at the change, and confessed the working of a power which was not of earth. Just as a man, standing on some mountain summit, catches the earliest beams of morning, and is transfigured by their glory, while the valley lands are wrapped in shade; so he who stands on the mountain heights of this Divine hope catches the distant glory of eternity, and is changed into the image as by the Spirit of the Lord." "This hope," says the same writer, "forms our resistance might in opposing earthly influences." Temptation only masters him who is prone to be mastered. Unless there be an evil influence within to which it can appeal, it has no force. Therefore, all states of coldness, unbelief, worldliness, expose us to its power. He who lets himself to remain in such states, courts temptation; and life's insincerity and selfishness, will soon be too much for him. What we need is a deep, earnest hope, acting as a strong spiritual emotion within us, inspiring our whole nature, raising us above the assaults of the earthly powers. And this hope gives it to us. Can we believe that we are called to travel on a path of eternal advancement, towards the likeness of the Holy Son of God, and yet feel cold? No. If we are indifferent to it, it is because we do not realize the glory of our calling. Let that hope glow within us, and temptations to selfishness and worldliness will pale their ineffectual fires, and just as the prophet of old, after communing with Jehovah and receiving the

awful message, could pass through the court of the king and the assemblies of the people, unmoved by flattery and undaunted by fear, so he in whom this heavenly hope burns, can pass through the densest ranks of evil influence unscathed, for "He that hath this hope within him purifieth himself as He is pure."

XV.

Christ Judged by the World through His

Disciples.

HERE are three ways of judging a person: by

ΤΗ

himself, by what he does, and by those who are his acknowledged intimates. For one who can judge the man, there are hundreds who can judge only by what the man does, and relatively through those who best know and are most influenced by him. As it is easier to walk by sight than faith, to dwell on the external than the inward, to realize bodily than spiritual presence, so what a man produces and effects, whether in things or in person, arrests, attracts, and is understood more readily than what he is in himself.

In dealing with man, our Lord Himself takes ac count of this fact, Why did Deity become Incarnate? Why has Jesus Christ walked this weary world, wearing our nature, carrying our sorrows, enduring temptation, persecution, and death? What mean Bethlehem, Nazareth, Gethsemane, Calvary, but that it pleased

the Lord to bring near His righteousness, beauty, and love in the person, work, life, and death of the Son of Man, that seeing Him, we might behold the Father; hearing Him, we might listen to the voice of the Almighty; knowing His love, we might understand the heart of the Lord; rejoicing in Him, we might rejoice in God with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And now that Christ's presence is spiritual, that His work is carried on by His Holy Spirit in the heart, and by the lives of those who are made new creatures in Him; is it strange, that those who know Him not, as their own personal Saviour and King, should judge Him through those who, by their professed allegiance, are virtually His representatives and witnesses? True, as it is, that each must sooner or later deal personally with Christ, that before His judgment each must be either acquitted or condemned, the fact remains that the disciples of the Lord Jesus are in some sense responsible for His reception or rejection by the world. Vain is it to declare that the world has Christ Himself before them, that if the copies of His life, as written by His disciples, are blurred and blotted, the Copy is stainless; if the reflection of His image, as seen in Christians, is defective and faulty, He is eternally perfect; if the witness borne by his followers is faithless, He is Truth; if the stream of love, as it flows in the hearts of those who love Him, is poor and intermittent, the Fountain of Love in Him is

always strong and steady. The judgment-seat of Pilate has not been the only tribunal at which Jesus Christ has been condemned; Judas has not been alone the Lord's betrayer; the multitude who in malign hate shouted "Crucify Him, crucify Him,” are not the only people who have given up the Son of God to be crucified. No, we who call and profess ourselves His, by our half-heartedness, by our weak faith, our coldness in sympathy, and our unrighteousness of life, have been grievously misrepresenting, and thus betraying and crucifying our Lord.

One of the greatest modern philosophical writers, characterizes the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, as the most impracticable discourse that has ever been preached. He holds up the words of Jesus, and the characters and lives of His professed followers, and asks, "Which is true? Either Christians are hypocrites, or their Leader is a fanatic." Dare we say

scepticism has no warrant for its scorn? When we take our Lord's precepts and our own lives, and place them side by side, are we not thoroughly ashamed? Not long ago I heard it stated by one of the most thoughtful London ministers, as his firm conviction, that if every man, woman, and child in the metropolis who professes loyalty to Christ were Christ-like, in all the relations of life thoroughly Christian, wickedness would cease in London, evil men could no longer exist. With all earnestness, let us ask, Why should