when their object is Christ alone, and salvation in Him. Here is made valid the word, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out!" Observe, the Saviour does not say whoever comes so or so, nor, whoever comes in this form and that. Without limitation, clause or condition, He says, "Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out!" What, I hear replied, means that, "cometh unto Him?" It means to long after Him. "But this longing pre-supposes a need of the heart for Him?" It is such need of the heart. "But this want pre-supposes acknowledgment of sin?" Certainly, and sorrow for the sin! "Well then, it follows again, that without repentance, none come to Jesus?" No, without a certain measure of repentance, none come to Him. Observe, I say: none come without that; but I say also, without that none can come, and thus express the matter correctly; whilst those who should say, none may venture to come without repentance, say so improperly, because they would speak of the matter as conditional and legal. If you come to Jesus in the longing of your heart, you already bear within you, though unconsciously, that measure of the feeling of sin, which sufficiently distinguishes the called of the Lord. More is not required. The susceptibility of God's salvation is there; that is sufficient. Come then, and hope every thing. Say with the leper, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean!" Pray with the prophet: "For we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies."s If He frowns upon you, sigh forth with the Canaanite woman, "True, Lord, 2 Matt. viii. 2.

1 John, vi. 37.

3 Dan. ix. 18.

but the dogs eat of the crumbs, which fall from their master's table;"1 and then experience the whole truth of the blessed word, "Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."2 Yea, so let it be!

1 Matt. xv. 27.

2 Matt. xx. 28.

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V.

THE SHIELD OF GOD.

"BLESSED is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" Thus (according to Luke, xiv. 15.) spoke, full of anticipation, the man who sat next to Jesus at the table, and who watched the words of life as he uttered them. We re-echo them after him in a clearer view. For the sake of that kingdom, existence is a treasure. The bread of that kingdom is the real food which approximates to heaven. That kingdom is a royal domain; its ruler is Christ. It is not a kingdom of this world; not to be extended by the sword, nor to be annihilated by it. Its boundary lines rest not upon earth. Its possessions are of a heavenly nature. The foundation of that kingdom was laid in the promise of paradise; in its theocratic constitution it was prefigured in the divine government of Israel; the prophets, in spirit, contemplated and greeted it from afar in its extended development; and with the incarnation of the Son of God, it entered upon a new, and indeed the next degree of development, in which it now rests. The last stage but one of its development it will arrive at in that period in which, upon earth, there will be one shepherd and one flock; its final consummation it will receive at the last day, the day of universal resurrection, of the

grand separation, and the great transfiguration of the world, when God will be all in all.

O sweet and beloved kingdom! kingdom of the Lord of glory! Were it not that thou dost interpose between the kingdoms of this world and the kingdom of darkness, how could I rejoice at having been born? The standard of my fatherland is dear to me; but under that banner I cannot conquer death, the silent anxiety of my heart, or the dread of eternity. I value the benefit of living under a well-organised civil government; but what does that contribute towards internal peace and salvation? We only hurry on in rapid chase through this world. A space of time-and we have passed away. I must be the citizen of another besides the kingdom of this world. The majority among you, I know, belong only to the latter. You may, at this hour, be quite satisfied and at ease, and not feel at all your inexpressible privation of the more exalted citizenship. You possess your competency, a thriving family, and peace under your roof. But wait, wait! The evil days will come upon you also, and what will happen then? Sickness enters the home hitherto so cheerful; the human doctor looks anxiously and cautiously in, and shakes his head. Alas! now you feel need of the aid of that superior Physician, to whom once the sisters of Bethany could say, "Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick," for you only belong to the kingdom of this world, and is it not already shown, how miserable this position is? Your temporal prosperity breaks down; alas! with that your all falls to ruin.

Alas! you are only the children of the kingdom of this world; and if that withdraws from you its possessions,

you have then nothing left. The world misjudges you; nobody will any more place faith in you; and there you remain alone. Could you but say with Job: "Behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high." But only in the kingdom of this world are your tabernacles erected. Men not only misjudge you; they abandon you. This one draws back, and the other, and all. Had you now only a friend, one more faithful than man! Had you one on whose breast, as often as you were oppressed, you might vent your sorrow, and shielded within whose arms, you might endure the desertion of the whole world! But you belong only to the kingdom of this world, and possess not such an one. But you have to endure still greater trials. Death breaks into your house, and snatches from you the objects of your greatest love and affection. Now you have lost your all, and lost it you have; you stand alone, and the world is not able to comfort you, and He who could console you, Him have not, you know not, for you know only-of a kingdom of this world. And now the turn comes upon yourself. Your days have flown like a shadow. Old age arrives. Yet a short space and you must part from all. You behold it advancing; onwards you see it rushing. O fearful shipwreck! What will you rescue from it? Nothing; for all that you possess is of this world, and remains in it. You have no fatherland above. You know of no "eternal tabernacles" which stand ready prepared for you. You are a stranger to God; you are a stranger to Jesus; a stranger to the holy angels, a stranger to the circle of the saints made perfect. There you stand, destitute, reduced to beggary, without any prospect, 1 Job, xvi. 19.

you