Chapter IX: Part 9

The Christian Church, from the beginning, has made the ascension of our Lord the subject of a special annual festival and service, and with excellent reason. The ascension of Christ ranks in importance with His birth, His death, and His resurrection. Strange to say, however, much less attention is given to it. Many are prompt and devout in noting and observing Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter, but when it comes to the glorious ascension, the heavenly enthronement of our blessed Lord, though furnishing equal cause for our gratitude and rejoicing, few seem to so regard it, and make little over its celebration. This ought not to be.

Christ's ascension into heaven is one of the great foundation truths of our Christian faith, a part of the fundamental Creed. "He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty," we recite in the Apostles' Confession. The ancient prophets spoke repeatedly of it, Christ, Himself, on several occasions foretold it, and the apostles and evangelists, most of whom were eye-witnesses of it, testify to it, and, moreover, it is also full of blessedness and precious consolation for those who enter into it with spirit and understanding, as one of the sick, after a sermon on Christ's ascension, preached by our missionary in the City Hospital, exclaimed, "Thank God for this precious truth of Christ's ascension!" The man was right. It is a truth full of strength for a Christian's faith, hope, and love, that it well behooves us to regard it, considering _I. Its significance for Him_; _II. its significance for us_.

St. Paul, summing up the history of our Savior's life, says: "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." That is the last item, the capstone, as it were, of His life. His work upon earth was completed, the purpose for which He had come perfected; there was nothing for Him to do. "It is finished," He had spoken upon the cross. Moreover, He could not remain upon earth, and eventually die again as a man, for He had conquered death. What, then, was left for Him to do but to return where He had come forth, to ascend on high? This ascension was not a vanishing out of sight, as, for instance, when Christ vanished out of sight in the case of the disciples of Emmaus; nor was it a concealment of Himself, as He concealed Himself from the Jews in the Temple when they lifted up stones to cast at Him; nor was it a transfiguration of His body, as on Mount Tabor, when His face shone as the sun and His garment was white with light.

By Christ's ascension we mean that Christ, according to body and soul, was taken up in a visible manner, by a true and local motion ascending into the clouds, so that now "body and soul" He is in heaven. We shall not speculate, throw up all manner of questions how this could be, but accept the statement of trustworthy, reliable witnesses, men of unimpeachable veracity, that so it was, and we know that it was not the only case of such heavenly ascension. The Bible records two others; the one occurred in the days before the Flood, when it states of Enoch "that God took him and he was seen no more"; and the other took place after the Flood, when Elijah, the prophet, was conveyed in a fiery chariot into ethereal realms. These Old Testament incidents were types of Christ's ascension. The ascension of our Lord stands out as an indisputable fact, witnessed by many. The exact time, place, and circumstances are all minutely given. Thus, what is the first particular of its significance for Him, it shows that He was the divine Being which the Bible states, that He was divine God blessed forevermore.

And we rejoice at this elevation of His. How delightful it is to-day to lift up our eyes and behold Him who for our sakes became a babe in the poverty and humiliation of Bethlehem's stall, Him whose life was one uninterrupted series of woes, Him who was despised and rejected of men, whose head was pierced by the crown of thorns, and in whose hand was placed the insulting rod, who hung suspended from the cross,--how delightful to see Him worshiped by the host of heaven, conquering, triumphing, receiving the very honor that behooves Him as the true God. On this day we invite and unite with all Christendom in "bringing forth the royal diadem, and crowning Him Lord of all." As He once said to Nicodemus: "No man ascendeth up into heaven but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven." The ascension of Christ is evidence that He was the God-Man, having come from heaven.

Again, Christ's ascension shows that His work on earth was accomplished, and that He had done that work well. When our Government sends an ambassador to effect a treaty with a foreign nation, and on his return home this ambassador is received with public demonstrations of joy, and is accorded a seat of honor in the national capitol, this reception is proof that he has performed his mission well, to the satisfaction of the Government. The event which we to-day commemorate, this gladsome reception of Christ into heaven, this exaltation to the right hand of God the Father, prove conclusively that the work He had been sent to do was done and was done well, to the complete satisfaction of the Father. This is implied already in the text by the word "sat." He sat down. Sitting is a posture, an attitude of rest. God rested on the seventh day, after all His work of creation was finished. Christ now sits upon His throne, at the right hand. That is a mark of honor. When we read that Bathsheba, the queen-mother, went in to see Solomon, her royal son, she was placed on a throne at the king's right hand, in token of the respect he paid to her as his parent. So when the same term is used in the case of our Savior, it means that Christ, in His human form, as man,--for as God He needed not to be glorified,--that Christ the Man was lifted up into the exalted dignity of heaven, high above all the powers and dignities of the angels, that at the name of Jesus every knee must bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The right hand also implies power. Our right hand, as a rule, is the stronger hand. So when Scripture speaks of God's right hand, we are well aware that that is not to be taken literally, since God is a spirit and has no parts of a man, but is a figure of speech, to imply His majesty and power. Christ's taking His seat at His right hand means that Christ, the God-man, as our Catechism says, ruleth and reigneth with infinite, eternal majesty and power over all creatures and works of God's hand. To quote His own words, expressed to His disciples at His departure, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." Yes, it is one of the great and glorious truths of our holy Christian faith that He who was born in Bethlehem, crucified on Calvary, and buried in Joseph's tomb, is now enthroned as the Lord of angels, the Head over all things, and that He particularly takes care of His Church. That this is indeed the case we may learn from the experience of Saul. When Saul was smitten down on the way to Damascus, he was asked by a heavenly voice, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" Saul was persecuting the Christians, but the voice says "Me." Jesus thus identifies Himself with His people. Their interests are His interests, their sufferings, His sufferings. They are the apple of His eye: no harm can come to them but when He permits it.

What consolation this thought ought to afford to believers amidst all the sorrows of life! But this leads us already to consider of what significance Christ's ascension is to _us_.

We sing in one of our Ascension hymns:

Th' atoning work is done,
The victim's blood is shed,
And Jesus now is gone
His people's cause to plead.
He stands in heav'n, their great High Priest,
And bears their names upon His breast.

Reference is here made to the great day of Atonement, when the Jewish high priest, bearing on his breast the plate upon which were inserted the twelve stones, each stone of which was engraved with the name of one of the tribes of Israel, and having in his hand the blood of sacrifice, would take it into the Holy of Holies, and presenting it before the Ark of the Covenant, would intercede, ask forgiveness for the sins of the people whose representative he was. So our great High Priest, having given His life a sacrifice for our sins, passes into the Holy of Holies, there to make intercession for us, for which reason we speak of Christ as our Advocate, our Spokesman, for instance, when it says: "If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father." The best of us are continually coming short, but there stands our mutilated and meritorious Brother, holding up the hands that felt the nails, ever pleading in our behalf, ever drawing down upon us the compassionate mercy of an offended God. Yes, "He stands in heav'n, our great High Priest, and bears our names upon His breast."

And, again, in Christ's ascension we have an earnest pledge of our own. He is the Head, and, "Where the Head is," we sing to-day, "well we know the members He has left below in time He surely gathers." He is our Forerunner, and a forerunner means that others are on the same way to the same place. His entering for us implies our entrance also. Christ did not only take our human nature upon Him for thirty-three years, while He dwelt upon earth among us, then, however, discarding it as a worthless and worn-out garment,--He took it along with Him into heaven and glory, and we are branches of the same vine, joined with Him in the same organism, and thus His ascension is virtually our ascension, the first-fruits of a like harvest to follow. Taking our stand to-day on Mount Olive and gazing on the blessed Savior as He mysteriously mounts up into the high heavens, we behold our Lord clearing a way for us into that upper world, and giving us an example of how all believers are to ascend at one time to the same heavenly realms. "In our blessed Lord's ascension we by faith behold our own." He has told us, "I go to prepare a place for you. Where I am, there shall also my servants be."

How the ascension of Christ confirms our faith, animates our hope! Who can question that there is as much to awaken our grateful joy in our Savior's ascension as in any other event of this marvelous destiny? Christmas joy is right, and Easter joy is right; but there is no less reason to give due honor to the event of our devotion to-day, so blessed, so assuring, so vital. And if we have duly entered into the joyous truths of our faith, the practical effect is plain. The Apostle directs us, "Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." "Where your treasure is," the Savior said, "there will your heart be also." Christ is the Christian's treasure, and since He has ascended into heaven, there is a corresponding uplifting of our love to that home of blessedness whither He has gone, and which He is making ready for His believing people.

These, then, are some of the chief thoughts which connect with the event we are commemorating to-day. To this ascended Savior let us anew render our devout homage. Anew let us give Him our love, our gratitude, our faith, our service. Let our lives, down to their very close, be spent in Him and for Him. Then, too, the day shall come when we also shall go up in triumph. Angels of God will then also escort us as conquerors to the skies, and we shall be and reign forever with Him. Grant us this, O Christ! Amen.

SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION.

For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him
shall the Son of Man be ashamed when He shall come in His own
glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.--_Luke 9,
26._

It is an awful doom that our text bids us to look forward to, that when Christ comes in His glory and in His Father's and of His holy angels, then He shall be ashamed of us, refuse to acknowledge us, and yet we are inclined to think, at first sight, that, so far as it depends on our being ashamed of Christ, there is not so much fear. There is much that is wrong among us. But being ashamed of Christ, ashamed of being known as His disciples, ashamed of His name and religion, does not seem one of our shortcomings and dangers. Were not the words rather applicable to the early disciples than to us and our days?

And true it is, as the Gospel to-day presents, that confessing Christ was a very different thing then from what it is now. When first the Gospel was preached among men, not to be ashamed of Christ meant nothing more or less than that a man was ready to leave everything in this world and to die for Christ. When all the powers of earth, Jews and Gentiles, were arrayed against the new faith, when men were brought before kings and rulers, and simply told that, unless they would deny Christ, they would be thrown to the wild beasts, or buried alive, or be sent to prison to labor like convicts all the rest of their days; or when almost everybody took it for granted that the Gospel was mere folly, and that every one who followed it was the most stupid and obstinate of bigots; in other words, when believing and confessing Christ meant to be laughed at, jeered at, mockery, persecution, and martyrdom,--at such seasons we can understand the suitableness and solemnity of Christ's warning to them. But those times, thank God, have passed away; the Gospel is no longer met with fagot and sword. The open profession of religion does no one any hurt in life, exposes him to no special mockery or insult, causes no unfavorable or unpleasant feelings towards him.

Yes, so far from its going against him, he will not infrequently stand higher and have more credit. And yet, let us not be led into mistakes. This easiness in being religious, which without contradiction is greater nowadays than it ever was in the world since Christ came into it, must not blind us to the spirit of our Lord's words. They have a meaning still, and, while men are men, will continue to have to the world's end. _I. In what way, or ways, they apply to us_; _II. what is the one main lesson they would bring home to us_,--that let us, under the guidance and blessing of the Holy Spirit, consider.

There is, my beloved, extant among us these days a confession of Christ that is general. By general we mean it does not like to go into particulars. And it is in the general that we are so brave and bold in professing not to be ashamed of Christ. Take, to make the test, that upon which our religion rests, the Holy Bible. People respect it as a sacred book; something is missing in a Christian home if it is not there; they reverence it in the general. But when it comes to the particular, how little is it really pondered; how little do men feel bound by its particular statements; how easily are its direct communications set aside when they conflict with their notions or feelings or wishes.

Did God actually create man out of the dust of the ground, or is he the creature of evolution? Is the account of the fall of man into sin to be taken literally, or is it only an allegory, a poetic interpretation, a childish and primitive way to account for sin and its sad consequences? Is there a personal devil, or is the devil only to stand for evil in the abstract? The narrative of Balaam, or Jonah, of the men in the fiery oven,--are they to be received as they read? And when it comes to the New Testament,--how are we to understand the conception of the virgin birth of our Savior? how His glorious ascension? how His descent into hell? how His words of the Sacrament: "Take, eat; this is my body. Take, drink; this is my blood," literally or figuratively, "is" meaning "represents"? Does Baptism work forgiveness of sin? Is it the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, as St. Paul says to Titus, chapter 3? Go, and question among Christ's followers, consult the thousands of books that are flooding the market,--what do they teach? They are ashamed to admit that God created the world in six days of twenty-four hours each; it's unscientific; they blush at the accounts of Balaam's ass and of Jonah's whale. The blood doctrine of the cross, that Christ has redeemed us by His holy, precious blood and by His innocent suffering and death, is repugnant to many. Christ's body and blood in the Sacrament, Baptism the means of a new birth,--they are abashed to acknowledge such teachings. It is the tendency of the age to acknowledge everything in general, and in particular nothing, nothing distinct and definite. People are ashamed of the words of Christ. Why tinker and twist in order not to make the writings say but the one thing they do say? What is this but being ashamed?

And as in the doctrine, so in matters of religious duty. To speak first, in general. We come to church. Others around us do the same. It's the fashion to do so. But let us ask ourselves, What if everybody around us did not do so? There are places and associations where it is not customary; some of us get among such also: no one goes;--at the very utmost one service a Sunday is thought the full limit. At such times are we shy of doing differently from other people when we know and feel what is right? What is this but being, in reality, ashamed of His words? Or take the Lord's Table,--how many know that they ought to come to the Lord's Table, know and acknowledge what the Lord's command is, and not only that, but in their hearts would like to come, and yet they stay away because they are ashamed to do what other people don't do, of being asked, perchance, sneering questions, of its being said that they are seeking to set themselves up and making more pretense of religion than their neighbors. What is this but staying away because they are ashamed to confess Christ and His words before men?

One instance would I emphasize this morning in particular, and that is church-membership. People are ashamed of the church, not in general,--they regard it as a charitable institution. They have no objection to go there, nor do they mind, if the minister is a fascinating speaker, to part with a little spare change. But there is where the connection ends. With many--their number is tens of thousands--the doctrine is, that one can be just as good and hopeful outside of the Church as in it, that as long as they maintain a general uprightness of behavior, do not defraud any one, live on kindly terms with their neighbors, act as honorable citizens and profess belief in a Higher Being, it does not matter whether they just believe this or that doctrine or not, whether they are confirmed or not, whether they attend public worship, or consult their own ease and pleasure on that subject. Indeed, they can see no difference between conformity to the moral teachings and rules of some order, Odd Fellows' associations or Masonic fraternity, and the Church of Christ. In a word, they confound mere outward respectability and godliness with the teachings of Christianity, and place man's organizations, secular societies, on a common par and level with God's organization, Christ's Church, and they quite forget that, in matters of religion and sound morality, it is not for them, nor any man, to point out the way and set up the standard, but humbly to bow to the requirements, and walk in the way which God has ordained and appointed for us to walk in.

And now turn to Christ and His Word,--what does it say? The teaching there is, that outside of His Church, and apart from those acts of Baptism, Holy Communion, public worship, and public identification with the Lord's people, there is no right Christianity and confession of Him. The statement and impression throughout is to this effect that a man's religion is spurious and sorely lacking if it does not bring him into the common fellowship of believers, if it does not lead him to live and move and have his being in observance of the Christian ordinances, and maintaining Christian recognition and membership in the communion of the saints. Can any one think for a moment that in those early days of persecution, when it meant either--or, life or death, people distinguished between being a Christian or a church-member? To be one meant to be the other.

And now go and ask people to join the Church. Ask our young members, when arriving at the age of twenty-one years, to come in and help, to support with means and vote, give a little of their time, and see whether they regard it a privilege and a delight, a God-enjoined duty. In general there is churchliness; and in particular flimsy excuses, pretexts, subterfuges are offered.

And why, to come to our next consideration, why is this? What is the cause? Why this distinction between the early disciples and our present-day confessors of Christ? There was one thing they possessed, which is now so largely lacking,--what is it? Christianity those days, we heard, meant personal sacrifice, persecution, martyrdom. Thank God that form is now over. To-day we see not the Church weeping in sackcloth and ashes at the graves of her slaughtered children, nor hear the Coliseum ringing with the wild shouts: "_Christianos ad leones_: Christians to the lions!" And yet, while not so striking, something of the same vigorous principle, of the same spirit, must characterize the conduct of every Christian. "If any man will follow after me," says the Master, be my disciple, "let him deny himself." There must be readiness, now as of old, to suffer for righteousness' sake. I am glad to note there still is. Young men go out into the ministry, from their associations and their kin, into places the crudest and the rudest to preach the Gospel of Christ, enduring poverty, calumny, and finally are broken down in health, thrown upon the charity of a cold, unfeeling world. We know some women who were lured by fair appearance into marriage by young men who won their love, and who, though now abused, lampooned, mocked, are holding fast to their faith. We know of some who, in order to attend to their religious worship and duty, have sacrificed positions of better income, and we know of some who have forfeited money and social honor by giving up their connection with beneficiary and fraternal societies. But for these the Christian faith would perish from the earth. They are the salt of the earth, the light of the world.

Yet, apart from these, what is the religious life of Christians? Is it not simply a matter of convenience, custom, inheritance, yes, sometimes of fashion or of business? Do we not find numbers of Christians who cannot give for God's worship an hour out of the 168 hours a week, who would not lift a finger or a foot to help a sinking brother, to save a wandering boy, to speak a kind word to restrain a wayward girl, who, like Cain, his brother's murderer, insolently reply, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Yes, as we survey the average Christian life to-day, it seems to have lost all strenuousness. Tact, worldly wisdom, policy, not truth, God's wisdom, principles, more of profession than deeds, more of criticism than service. We see clergymen begging people if they won't be Christians, urging them to accept the glorious blessing of salvation, or, if professing Christians, humbly beseeching them to fulfill their vows, asking oft with fear and trembling for a little pittance to keep up the grand work, and when given, given as if an act of favor and grace, not from the conviction that they owe it to God and grace, whose it is, who demands it. Oh! it is pitiable, a mock and farce upon the religion we profess. When we think of the apostles and evangelists and martyrs for Jesus' sake, how they parted with homes, occupations, possessions, and even life itself for Christ and His Word, we have reason, every one of us, to hang our heads in shame. What the Church needs to-day are those who are not ashamed of Christ and His Word, _i. e._, men and women who will do their duty without ceasing; men and women who, when they have done their duty, will not be expecting the praise of men, but who find their reward in their service; men and women who are ready to sacrifice of their time, their labors, their money, themselves; men and women who, when principle, divine truth, is at stake, will stand by and rather go down, upholding what is right, than surrender to that which may be popular and fashionable, but is wrong.

My beloved, the religion of the twentieth century is no other than the religion of the first century. It calls for self-denial, sacrifice. To what extent has it entered, and does it enter, into your religious life? Examine yourself in the sight of Him who said: "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when He shall come in His own glory and in His Father's and of the holy angels." Amen.

PENTECOST.

Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of
hosts.--_Zech. 4, 6._

We shall first explain, and then seek to apply the words read.

The Lord, through the Prophet Zechariah, addresses this message to Zerubbabel under remarkably instructive circumstances. Zerubbabel was the prince and leader of the Jews, under whom the first company of the exiles, numbering about 50,000, returned from the seventy years' captivity in Babylon. On reaching Jerusalem, he with his fellow-exiles promptly set about the work of building the second temple. They laid the foundations with great rejoicing, in high hope of speedily and successfully completing the work. But seeing the smallness of their resources and the vastness of the work, the large numbers who opposed, and the fewness of those who helped, also hearing the old men, who remembered the glory of the former, _i. e._, Solomon's Temple, say, as they looked with tears on the crude beginning before them, "It is as nothing in comparison," Zerubbabel and his people became discouraged and ceased from the work. For fully fifteen years nothing was done. To arouse the leader and stir up the people, to resume and press forward the work, the Lord by Zechariah now addresses them. Though they are poor and weak in comparison with the builders of the first temple, yet the Lord will have them know that this work is not wholly theirs, but is emphatically His, and must therefore be accomplished. By way of teaching them how this would be done, He sent them an impressive symbolic vision recorded in the verses immediately preceding the line of the text.

The prophet sees a candlestick all of gold, having seven branches, and on the top of each branch nine lamps. On the right side of the candlestick is a living olive tree, and on the left side a similar olive tree. These trees pour from themselves a plentiful and unfailing supply of oil into the central bowl of the candlestick. Then the prophet asks what the vision means. The reply given are the words of the text: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." The meaning evidently is this: As the candlestick--which stands for the Church--is furnished without cost or labor, with an unfailing and abundant supply of oil--oil being the symbol of the Holy Ghost--from the living olive trees, so will the Spirit of the Lord furnish abundant power and resources in ways within His power, to enable His servants to successfully complete the building of His house.

Thus, instructed and encouraged, leader and people promptly resume the work laid aside fifteen years before. There was no lack of materials. The building advanced rapidly to completion. In the sixth year afterwards the house was dedicated to God. As the people looked upon the great structure in its completeness, every stone and timber, from the lowest foundation to the highest pinnacle, seemed to reecho the language of the text. It is done, not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts.

Such is the original meaning and application, but it by no means exhausts the lesson,--rather suggests a much wider and universal use. In the New Testament and the Church of Christ it is also most emphatically true that all depends upon the light-giving, life giving, power-giving of the Spirit of God. It was so on the first Pentecost, which we commemorate to-day; it is just so now. The source of the Church's life, and its success, is the energy of God's Spirit. That is the one prominent thought and truth that we would meditate and impress upon our minds in these moments of instruction. Men are accustomed to look on the outward appearance. They are disposed to trust to material resources. Thus, quite naturally, they are inclined to fall into the error that God's cause, the preservation and extension of Christ's Church, are dependent upon the same things, that these same things are necessary to the success of the Gospel truth. Thus, to be more explicit, they have a notion that wealth and worldly influence are such necessary helps. We see money exercising a nearly unlimited sway for external comfort and enjoyment. We behold how those who possess it secure respect and homage, thousands standing ready to do with hireling eagerness their slightest wish. To the success of every scheme, whether material or intellectual, money in our day would appear to be the one thing needful. It is called the _nervus rerum_, the nerve of things. And is the Church exempt? How is it to be supported at home, how the heathen brought within its fold, unless the ear of the rich and the powerful be first gained and their purse-strings opened to supply the financial aid? Has it not come to this, that, when inquiring as to the prosperity of a particular congregation, wealth suggests itself as the most prominent, and piety and high moral worth as only subordinate ideas, if, indeed, these occur to people at all? Now it would be foolish to contend that money and wealth may not be, and actually are, a means in God's providence to further His cause. We need money, but, let it be noted, not as a necessary, but as only a very accidental means. To take any other view of the matter is to put it in the place of God, whence alone it can derive its efficiency.

Any one who has given calm and careful attention to the history of the Church, from the first publication of our holy faith by Christ Himself down to the present day, will have found that the favor of the rich and the powerful is not essential to its advancement. In the period of its rise and apparently greatest weakness, when it had only a few poor fishermen for its adherents and advocates, its growth was most rapid. After wealth began to make itself felt, its progress was retarded, and internal decay set in. By that we do not say that such has been, and naturally is, the result of every influence of this sort, but simply that the cause of divine truth is independent of all such agencies for its vitality and effective power. Riches and civil power cannot in themselves, and irrespective of the divine blessing, promote the cause of Christ in the world. That, I know, every one professing himself a Christian is ready at once to allow, and yet in view of the undue prominence that is made over the matter, it is proper to call heed to the warning contained in the text. Let us not overestimate and exaggerate the value of money in spiritual matters.

Again, it is well to remark that the cause of Christ is not dependent for its advancement on personal talents and high intellectual endowments. How much is not made of that these days! Correct enough, as the supernatural gifts of the Spirit ceased with the early Christian age, the Christian Church, guided by common prudence, as well as by the express statements of the Bible, has ever since required that those who occupy the sacred office should possess such an amount of mental culture as might fit them to interpret, expound, and apply the truths of Scripture, but that there is danger of overestimating and idolizing the intellectual ability of these office-holders to the practical neglect of the truth they present, is only too lamentably apparent. Since the day that Paul, Apollos, and Cephas divided the favor of the Church of Corinth, the one being for Paul, the other for Apollos, and the third for Peter, this partiality, or favoritism, has been very common and yet is. Add to this the growing intelligence of the age, its high and general standard of education, and the loud cry for men of talents and superior scholarship is strong and pronounced.

These things, accordingly, are not to be despised or neglected; on the contrary, cultivated. But let us not for one moment believe that Gospel truth is dependent on learning and genius to keep it awake. Learning and genius and oratory are nothing except when they are blessed; nay, without the blessing they are likely to be productive of injury, just in proportion as they are great. Let us beware of regarding them in any higher or different way. Unless an energy or agency superior to that of man pave the way for truth to enter, the finest scholarship and the most persuasive eloquence will not force a passage. What that energy and agency is the text tells us.

One other agency and resource upon which too much stress is laid is this: We have fallen upon a generation of fuss, bustle, trumpet-blowing, and advertising. It would almost seem as if many of us believed that we were to take the world by storm. We see it in every department, and the Church is falling in line. We have all sorts of noisy demonstrations and manifestations; ministers advertise themselves and their sermons under ridiculous announcements, as if to draw the crowd, and not rather regenerating their heart, were the only and sole purpose. Let us beware of placing too much significance on this matter of advertising. We must not be forgetful of the Master's direction: "Let your light shine before men." "A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick." And yet, it is well to remember that vision of Elijah, when he stood upon Mount Horeb, and the Lord wished to speak to His servant. First there was a terrific earthquake that shook the ground; "but," it says, "the Lord was not in the earthquake." That was followed by a terrific whirlwind rending the trees and causing havoc around; "but," it says, "the Lord was not in the whirlwind." Then, following it, came a fire; "but," it says, "the Lord was not in the fire." Then, when tranquillity reigned again, and earth and skies lay in silence, "came a still, small voice." The Lord was in that. He is still in the still, small voice of Gospel grace.

Let the ministers preach this Gospel grace in all its purity and in all faithfulness, and it will do the work. It is the only instrument the Spirit employs in changing a man's nature. Let him and his members live that Gospel, let them show in their characters and behavior that they have been born again and are sustained by the agency of the Holy Spirit; that they are temples of God, and the Spirit dwelleth in them, and thus by a godlike life commend the religion they profess; let them both, minister and members, be found where they were all with one accord on the first Pentecost, in one place, that one place the place of worship; and let them both be doing what the first disciples were doing,--praying for the outpouring of the Spirit, upon themselves and their cause, and, verily, as God's promise is true, they shall not fail of a pentecostal outpouring, success, and blessing upon their undertaking.

Summon all your forces, mention all your resources. "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." God, Holy Spirit, we invoke Thee, Come into our hearts, take possession of them, come into our homes, rule there. Come into our churches and our church. Come, and Thy people bless, and give Thy Word success, for Thou, and Thou only, canst and must do so. Amen.

TRINITY SUNDAY.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.--_2 Cor. 13, 14._

We are entering to-day upon the second part of the Christian church-year. The seasons and festivals of the church-year may be compared to a river that takes its rise, like the stream which washes the banks of our city, in some small and distant lake, and then ever continues to grow, widen, and deepen, until it becomes a majestic flow, and finally empties into the vast gulf of the ocean.

We have seen in the past months the river of grace and salvation issuing as a tiny rivulet from under a humble manger on Bethlehem's plains, passing through the gorge of Nazareth, flowing along the banks of Jordan, sweeping past the cities of Galilee and Judea, lifting up its surging billows to the height of Calvary and Olivet, until it overflowed the world with its heavenly billows on the day of Pentecost.

By that river it has been our good fortune to linger each Sunday, to dip up of its waters many a draught for our thirsty souls, and bathe in its currents for the washing away of our sins. To-day, however, we are called to ascend to its source, to leave Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Judea behind, to climb above Golgotha's Mount and Olivet's top, yes, to soar beyond the cloud which once received our ascended Lord out of sight, and to gaze upon a gulf, an ocean, which has no boundary and no shore. To speak in simple and unadorned speech: It is the subject of God Himself which we are invited to contemplate, the most overwhelming, mysterious, deepest of them all. "Who by searching," asks Job, "can find out God? Who can find out the Almighty to perfection?" And yet there are some things which we can and which we must know, for the subject of God is at the base of all things, of all religion. Without the right knowledge of God no man is a right man, and no one can rightly adjust himself to his place in this world or in the next. Let us, then, approach the great mystery of godliness, letting heavenly wisdom be our teacher.--

To-day's festival is called the Festival of the Trinity. What is the doctrine of the Trinity? For it certainly behooves every one to understand what is meant thereby, and this doctrine is held by all the Christian churches. Whosoever believes it, becomes a member of the Church. Whoever rejects it, ceases to belong to the Christian Church, and becomes a heretic.

Scripture tells us on the one hand that God is one, that there are not three Gods, but one God; on the other hand, that the Father is God, that our blessed Lord Jesus, the Son, is God, that the Holy Ghost is God, each person being a perfect God, yet so joined, each to each, that they constitute one invisible God. We are taught that these three persons are uncreated, incomprehensible, eternal, almighty, equal in glory, majesty, and power. None is before, none after, none greater or less than another; they are coeternal and coequal.

That is the plain teaching of God's holy Word. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, each of them is God, and yet there are not three Gods, but one God. How these three persons are so united as to make up only one God, so that the persons are neither confounded, nor the substance divided, we are nowhere told in Scripture. On this, as with regard to many other matters, we must be content to be ignorant. That is a great hardship to the pride of the would-be wise. And so in the earliest ages men arose and strove against this doctrine of the Trinity. The first violent strife that agitated the early Christian Church was just on this point. Arius, a certain bishop, would not accept the simple statement of Scripture that Christ is God, in the same sense as the Father is God; he would make Him inferior in divine nature. A most fierce controversy was waged, which ended in Arius' being branded a heretic, as, indeed, he was, and the true faith being only the more clearly confessed in the creeds of the Church, called the Athanasian and the Nicene Creed.

Does this doctrine sound strange and hard to believe to the carnal understanding? Let those who would be wise come forward, and prove their right to be admitted into the mystery of heaven, by showing that they have fully mastered the lesser mysteries of earth. Let them tell us, for instance, why the needle of the compass always turns toward the north. Perhaps they will say, Because it is in its nature to do so. But that is no answer. Our question is, _Why_ does the needle so turn? What secret and invisible hand twists it around and causes it to point always the same way? Or, if this be too puzzling a question, perhaps these wise people who think it so great a hardship that they are not permitted to understand God, may tell us a little about themselves. They can perhaps teach us how it comes to pass that the blood keeps flowing unceasingly through our veins, without our being aware of it, except when we are in a high fever. We grow tired with labor or with exercise, we tire even with doing nothing, but the blood never ceases in its flow; from the hour of our birth, day and night, summer and winter, year after year, it keeps on with its silent round, never stopping, till it stops once for all. How, I ask, can these things be? No answer. And this is not the only matter by any means. There is, for instance, sleep. Who does not sleep? One-third of our lifetime is spent in sleep. Who can say what this is? And if you cannot,--and no one can,--let those who know nothing about the how and the why in so many, yea, in most of earthly matters, not be so very much surprised that they cannot understand the existence of that invisible, that eternal, that infinite Spirit whom we call God.

But though Scripture has only told us _that_ these things are, without teaching us _how_ they are, yet for the sake of showing that the mystery of the Trinity is not so utterly at variance with what we find in earthly things, as unbelievers would fain persuade us, for the sake of proving how possible it is, even according to our limited notions, for that which is three in one sense to be one in another sense, learned and pious men have busied themselves in seeking out likenesses for the Trinity among the things of this world. These likenesses, it should be borne in mind, are very imperfect, and they do not give us a full and just idea of the glorious Trinity; yet such comparisons may help us in attaching some sort of notion to the words of the Creed, may keep those words from lying dead in our minds or, rather, on our tongues.

One such likeness or comparison is the glorious object which our eyes see in the sky--the sun. That grand orb yonder, from which all life doth come, may be compared to the Father, from whom all blessings flow. From it issues light. This we may compare to the second person of the Trinity, who came forth from the Father, and who John tells us is the true Light, which lights every man that cometh into this world. But besides this, there comes from the sun, heat, which is different from light, and may exist altogether without it. This heat of the sun may not imperfectly be compared to the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life, as the Creed calls Him, for heat is the great fosterer of life. Thus we have, first, the sun in the sky; secondly, the light which issues from the sun; thirdly, the heat which accompanies the light--three separate and distinguishable things; for the sun viewed as an orb is one thing, the light sent forth from it is another thing, the heat still another; and yet, what can be more undivided than the sun, its light and its warmth?

To mention another.--As with the most glorious of heavenly bodies, so with the purest of earthly bodies--water. Here, too, we have, first, the fountain, high up among the rocks, far out of man's reach, answering to the Father; secondly, the stream which issues from the fountain, and flows down into the valley for the use of man, which may be likened to Jesus Christ, the Son; thirdly, the mist which rises from the water, and falls in rain or dew upon the thirsty ground, which, I need hardly state, answers to the Holy Ghost, who, as we regarded last Sunday, came down visibly, like the rain, with a sound as of a rushing mighty wind on the apostles, but who now descends gently and silently, like the dew, in the silence of night, on the heart of the believer.

And these comparisons may be multiplied without number. Thus you are yourself a trinity, a three in one, consisting of body, soul, and spirit. A clover leaf is one, yet has three lobes. A tree is roots, trunk, and branches, yet one tree. Time is past, present, and future; constitutes one thing,--time. By these comparisons we do not make the difficulty in the mystery of the Trinity conceivable to man's reason. What God is in Himself,--how the Son is the Only-begotten of the Father; how the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father; how the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost abide forever in inseparable union and trinity,--these are questions of no importance for us to know, and therefore God has not thought fit to reveal them to us more clearly.

And having considered the doctrine of the Trinity, as expressed in the words of the text and of Scripture at large, let us draw a few practical lessons from it. Many regard the doctrine of the Trinity to be what is called a speculative doctrine only, that is to say, a doctrine concerning which men may think and conjecture and dispute for their amusement, but of no effect or importance in real life. This is a mistake. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is eminently practical and eminently profitable. Our religion is founded upon it. Deny or think lightly of this article of our faith, and you remove the very corner-stone. If it be not true that Christ Jesus is God in the same degree and sense that the Father is, then He was not God at all, then He was a creature, then His redemption is none-availing,--"for no man can redeem his brother,"--then, in other words, we have no Savior, and our faith is vain, and our salvation a delusion, and all that brings us together in Christian worship is false; for in whose name, then, have we been baptized, for what purpose do we recite the Creed, and does the minister at the end of the service pronounce the blessing, and the congregation sing the doxology?

You will observe that this doctrine lies at the very center and heart of all our faith and worship, of all our Christian life of joy and hope. And some exceedingly profitable lessons does it teach us. One is humility. To hear some people talk, one would suppose them the embodiment of all wisdom; they are so self-consequential and conceited as if they knew it all, and what they cannot figure out on their fingers or by the rule of two is not worth accepting. Let such learn in view of this doctrine to put their hand upon their mouth, and their mouth into the dust, and learn to confess their insignificance and folly. It is said of Augustine, the great bishop, that he was once in great distress of mind how he might comprehend and describe this article concerning the Three-One God. When thus engaged, he tells that he dreamed that he was walking along the seashore; he saw a little child who had dug a hole into the sand, and was employed dipping the ocean water into the hole with a shell. "What are you doing?" said the church-father. "Oh," replied the little one, "nothing, only trying to empty this sea here into the hole." Laughingly he rejoined, "You will never be able to do that, will you?" "Indeed," answered the child, "and thou wouldst empty the mysteries of the infinite Triune God with the little dipper of thy thoughts!" Let us guard against being overly wise. Study to be humble when it comes to matters of God and our holy religion. And, to conclude, let us encourage ourselves by such meditation to joyous and childlike faith. God is great beyond all searching; therefore, may we rest assured that all is well in His hands and management. A farmer once remarked to Dr. Luther that he could not understand the Creed when it speaks of God Almighty. "Neither can I nor all the doctors," said the Reformer, "but only believe it in all simplicity, and take that God Almighty for thy Lord, and He will take care of thee and all thou hast, and bring thee safely through all thy troubles."

The same is true with regard to the second part of the Trinity. "If God," says the apostle, "spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" And the Holy Spirit coming into our hearts, changing, sustaining, and enlightening us--ought not a devout consideration of this loving, redeeming, sanctifying work of the Triune God prompt us to trust in Him--for life, in death, for time and eternity?

To the great One in Three
The highest praises be
Hence evermore!
His sovereign majesty
May we in glory see,
And through eternity
Love and adore.

Amen.

FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous
into life eternal.--_Matt. 25, 46._

Truth, my beloved, never changes; it is always the same. What was true 1900 years ago, is true to-day; what is true to-day, will be true 1900 years to come. And this is emphatically so with regard to heavenly truth. There is no new revelation in religion. What the Bible taught of old, it teaches now; we have no new Bible. The Christian faith, like its Founder, is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. Thank God that it is so; that among the ever-changing things of earth, the constantly fluctuating and shifting ideas and opinions of men, firmer than the Rock of Gibraltar, more solid than the mountains, there stands the Word of our God. And this pertains also to the doctrine which this day's Gospel prominently sets before us, the doctrine of future punishment.