what was only just within our power through severe strain and suffering. A tax is grievous as it exceeds the financial resources of a people; a lesson is grievous that is beyond the capacity or training of the scholar; a burden is grievous when too heavy to be borne. True, the implications of God's moral law are beyond our native strength: yet the commandments are not grievous; because, in these evangelical times, divine. strength is given with the effort to obey. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh," is now done through the strengthening grace of God vouchsafed in Christ Jesus. "The entrance of Thy word giveth light," is a great truth as it stands in the Old Testament; it is, however, an enlarged truth in these later days. Science assures us of the efficacy of light; it is not light only, but force-quickening, cleansing, compelling force. And the truth in Jesus is not merely dry light for the intellect, but vital force availing for interior purity and practical obedience. "Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you."

Read John xv. for the full understanding of the inward life and power which make obedience light. The fourth and fifth verses of the chapter whence our text is taken explain the text itself. When we are born of God and filled with faith and love, the keeping of the commandment is easy and delightful. The inner energy is equal to the whole incidence of duty. According to science the atmosphere rests upon us heavily, pressing to the weight of fifteen pounds to the square inch; and thus a grown man sustains a burden of about fifteen tons. But we know little if

anything of this burden. The gases and fluids inside our body press outwards, balancing the external pressure, and leaving us to walk at liberty. So far from the atmosphere being a burden, we know nothing lighter than air. It is somewhat thus with us in relation to the moral law. "The lofty, sublime, exceedingly broad statutes of God do not crush us, do not weigh upon us, because our internal vigour is equal to them, our mind, affections, and will are so filled with heavenly power; in the strength and joy of the soul the law becomes as light as air, and as vital. If we feel the commandments pressing upon us heavily, it is a sign that the interior life needs uplifting and strengthening. "Take heed to yourselves: if thy brother sin, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he sin against thee seven times in the day, and seven times turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith." When the Master showed the immense sublimity of the law of forgiveness, the disciples did not ask that it should be modified to their weakness, but that through increased faith and force. they might be equal to it in all its length and breadth.

Every commandment is a benediction. Not a salvation only, but a beatitude. "Moreover by them is Thy servant warned: in keeping of them there is great reward." Our whole perfecting is bound up with our obedience; only as we submit ourselves to divine control do we realize ourselves and all the great possibilities of our calling. No astronomer has yet been able to observe any evidence of a comet possessing a fixed axis of revolution, and most probably because

they have not yet acquired this law comets are so unorganized and so eccentric in their orbits; free from a fixed axis of revolution they wander at large with erratic movement, yet they remain chaotic, and do not develop into beautiful and fruitful planets. Yes; it is only as the love of God becomes the fixed axis of our being, and a close obedience to law the rule of our life, that we are fashioned into the full glory of our nature and enter upon its vast destiny of blessedness.

XLVII

VICARIOUS FAITH

And they come, bringing unto Him a man sick of the palsy, borne of four. And Jesus seeing their faith saith unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins are forgiven.—MARK ii. 3-5.

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HE narrative teaches the necessity of action with a view to salvation, the ingenuity of love, and the efficacy of faith; but we will confine ourselves to the last point, and emphasize the singular character of the faith in question. “And Jesus seeing their faith." Amid the pitiless selfishness and chilling unbelief of the age, the scene here depicted must have been to the Master a sight as pleasant as it was unexpected, and very promptly and cordially He spoke the words of forgiveness. He distinctly recognized the faith of the bearers as well as that of the sufferer who was borne. Humanly speaking the palsied man owed his recovery and salvation to the faith and self-sacrifice of his four friends.

The great lesson comes out here that to an unknown extent it is possible to inspire and to bring about the salvation of others by our faith and co-operation. Our faith cannot supersede theirs, it is never a substitute for the faith of those more immediately concerned; but it prompts and strengthens their faith, and by a

consentaneousness of trust and effort a wonderful recovery is effected. And really in all this there is nothing exceptional or miraculous. In many ways we all owe much to the confidence of others working on our behalf, and many of us are deeply conscious of the debt. For much that we are, viewed from an intellectual and worldly point of view, and for much that we have achieved in social and material life, we are indebted to the faith and encouragement of those about us. They believed in us and for us, when we believed very faintly in and for ourselves; they derided our selfmistrust; they withstood our enemies; they assisted us with moral and material help; at even serious sacrifices they attacked the obstacles which stood in the way, and smoothed our path to success. One man is famous, another great, another rich, because at a critical juncture sympathetic associates stood by them, aided them, awoke their ambition and enthusiasm, and really carried them to victory. Thousands of distinguished men are such because they resolved to justify the confidence reposed in them, and to fulfil the prophecies hazarded on their behalf. It is simply wonderful how largely many of us are indebted for success to the confidence and expectations of parents, brethren, and compeers, backed up by their practical sympathy. Friendship is a wonderful factor in a struggling life, and friendship is based in mutual faith. Many a hesitating yet capable soul has perished in obscurity because of indiscreet and unsympathetic criticism at a crucial moment; whilst others, more fortunate, have grasped the golden prize and worn the victor's wreath because loving and heroic helpers pushed a way for