or do anything contrary to their interest for the sake of Jesus Christ? I am afraid that it is the individual and the unit that does these things. But is this religion without the Cross the religion of Jesus Christ? Let us put it to the test. Take the Holy Scriptures in your hands, read them as they stand, do not explain them away: they are the word of God. Do not say it only means this, or it only means that. It means what it says—what God has written—and nothing else. Now hear what is written: 'How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.'14 Again, our Lord has said: 'Woe to you that are rich; for you have received your consolation.'15 Again, He said: 'Enter ye in at the narrow gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many they are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life; and few there are that find it." $16 And once more, when a man asked Him: Are they few that are saved? He said: 'Strive to enter in by the narrow gate; for many, I say to 14 St. Mark x. 23, 25. 15 St. Luke vi. 24. 16 St. Matt. vii. 13, 14.

you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut to the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us: and he answering shall say to you, I know you not, whence you are."17 Once more, He says: 'Whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.'18

These are the warnings of our Lord and Saviour. Take the crucifix in your hand, and ask yourselves whether this is the religion of the soft, easy, worldly, luxurious days in which we live; whether the crucifix does not teach you a lesson of mortification, of self-denial, of crucifixion of the flesh, with its affections and lusts, as the Apostle says; or as our Divine Lord Himself has said: 'If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee. If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee; for it is better to enter into life having one eye and one hand, than having two eyes and two hands to be cast into hell-fire.' These are the words of God, of Jesus, our merciful, loving, compassionate Lord. They are not the words of severe and heartless men. They are the words 17 St. Luke xiii. 24, 25.

18 Ib. xiv. 27.

of Divine pity, warning us that 'the wisdom of the flesh is death,' because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy against God, and cannot be subject to the law of God.

Let us, then, be on our guard against these things, which, in their subtlety and strength, have power over us all. If we had one foot in heaven, and were to leave off mortifying ourselves, we should fall from grace.

LECTURE III.

THE REVOLT OF SOCIETY FROM GOD.

'The nation and the kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish.' Isaias lx. 12.

THESE words are the promise of God to His Incarnate Son, the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth, which He has redeemed with His precious blood. It was to Him also that the words were spoken: Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thy enemies Thy footstool." The Son of God declares of Himself: 'I am appointed King by Him over Sion His holy mountain."2 Before He ascended into heaven, our Lord said to His disciples, All power in heaven and on earth is given unto Me;' and He promised them, saying, 'I dispose'— that is, I give unto you a kingdom, as My Father has disposed unto Me.'3 This kingdom, then, is

1

the kingdom of Jesus Christ; and the prophecy here is, that any nation or any kingdom that will not serve Him shall perish. Any nation or kingdom that says, 'We will not have this Man to reign over us,' refuses the sovereignty of Jesus Christ, and thereby shall fall.

It was on the day of Pentecost that the proclamation of the coming of this kingdom was first made in a multitude of tongues, and from Jerusalem was spread throughout the world. God the Holy Ghost on that day came as the 'sound of a mighty wind,' and by tongues of fire, speaking to the eye and to the ear, in witness of His Royal presence, Majesty, and power.

I have already spoken of the revolt of the intellect from truth, and also of the revolt of the will from God. Our present subject is the revolt of man from the authority of God. When

I

say the revolt of man, I do not only mean of individuals, one by one, but of mankind in its organised and corporate state. It is therefore of the revolt of society from the authority of God that I am about to speak.

I have said before, that the history of the Christian society of the world may be divided into