Joshua 8: 31. The whole stones for the altar signify the whole affections of the heart, uncorrupted by wrong human influences. God seeks first of all to have us consecrate our human affections. Holiness comes from the idea of wholeness.

Why did Christ say, "I will come in and sup with him," instead of "dine with him?" Because dinner was the meal of state; and at night the cares of the day would be over, and a man could give himself up to enjoyment and company.

He who is faithful to the truth will be a king of men.

As the warmth of the summer's sun has greater power than the lightning to bring life and activity into the world, s is the spirit of Christ a higher power than that of John the Baptist.

God makes the first birthright by the power of the Holy Spirit. The church gets its best members from Christian families. God sanctifies the mystery of generation.

The name "John" signifies "Jehovah's grace," or "Jehovah given." It contained a promise. He was sanctified before his birth, and, therefore, before he had a chance to repent. Why should it not be so with all? Tendencies are as much a part of a man's character as his actions. There is a special providence in the case of every man. Every man has a character when

he is born; but it lies deeper than the consciousness or thought of man, where only God sees it.

The doctrine of the miraculous conception is for Christians, and not for the bringing of men to Christ.

Those who have a deep sense of sin, have a deep moral nature; and the deep work of the gospel can not be done without that deep sense of sin. It is the great work of preaching to produce conviction of sin.

Oh, that our young women would think of Mary! What great honor was done to her!

There was a creative power came on Mary's body. Divine energy produced the germ of life which in the natural way is produced in man. Mary was familiar with the Scriptures, and may have known something of the physiological facts of conception and birth. The Jews ought not to have doubted anything of this, for they had been having just such miraculous things through all their history.

From a humble peasant girl of secluded Nazareth, Mary becomes the mother of the world's Savior! How her life was widened and exalted! Notice her song of praise. How much scripture she quotes! There is a reference for every line! We must infer that Mary taught Jesus the Scriptures, according to the old comanandment of Moses for the teaching of children. How full of the knowledge of the Scriptures Jesus was!

Who is it that saves us? It is the Messiah, and not the child Jesus as such.

If we could know more of the early life of Jesus we should probably be disappointed. We have idealized him. The Spirit was made flesh. Christ had to eat bread and butter, and to be taken care of just as other helpless children. We have no account of those things in the New Testament; and it is well that we have not, for our idealization would be shocked.

It is by the

grace of God that those things are left out. There is nothing that would simply gratify our curiosity, but only those things were written which were necessary for our spiritual good.

John the Baptist seems to have had the character of the Essenes, spoken of by Josephus. We may get some idea of what his education was by considering that he was the son of Zacharias, a priest. He appears as a copy of Elijah. It may be because they came from the same region. He was brought up in the desert, on the north-west of the Dead Sea. I do not think of him as taking up the ministry by imitation, for he had too much personality for that. Men of great individuality and strong moral natures naturally come out against the perversions of the age.

His dress was probably such as was common to that region from whence he came, and we have no account of his going up to Jerusalem in that habit.

Strong men grow up in seclusion; yet, reared in the desert, they will lack some elements of character. They will be odd, and that is sometimes a good thing. Such men are intense, and have great individuality.

God begins his work of reformation in the worst places first. "Make his paths straight." They were not to go around the hills. It is typical of the work before us.

There had been intercourse between heaven and earth all the way along; but now, in this new dispensation, the angels of the highest heavens, those from the presence of God, had a work to do here, hand in hand with Christ the Son of God. The heavens were brought near.

The angels of heaven used to come with swords of fire; now they come with love and praises.

All through society there needs to be preparation for the way of the Lord. The hills of pride have to be humbled and the valleys of humility to be filled up.

Our privileges will not save us, unless they bear fruit of us. Privileges are God's grace. This is what John the Baptist preached. It is not God's grace to us, but in us, that saves us.

It is a great thing for the preacher to understand the providential hinge on which the kingdom of God is turning. Moses, of necessity, compromised; but John the Baptist came making no compromise with evil. He laid the ax to the root.

He knew men, and adapted himself to them; and when they came to him he knew what they needed.

The elements of theology are in the inspired words. The words and their general use must be understood.

We must only ask what is the truth. It is a great work to lay aside our preconceived ideas which have become a part of ourselves.

John the Baptist had two sides to him: the fire of the old prophet and the love of the new dispensation. was a link between the old and the new.

He

Only one human soul was created; all others are begotten. It is a mystery.

The particular character is in the tree before it bears any fruit. We know it by its fruit. We can trace it back to one created tree in the garden. If the tree is in some way injured, its seed-bearing power is injured, and it becomes depraved. So it is with man.

"Dogma" is the decreed doctrine. doctrine without dogma.

We may have

The conditions of shepherd life were those of simple and unperverted nature. It is easy for men of pure natural affections to receive Christ. There is a good influence of animals upon men. Men of strong natural affections love animals, and animals naturally take to such men.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses-all those great souls who were given the true religion in trust-were shepherds. City life spoils the natural affections of

men.