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Secondly That this service is infinitely valuable.

What

is more valuable than vision! Imagine the feelings of a man born blind, on receiving his sight. With the opening of the eye, there is the opening of a new world and the inrush of a new tide of exquisite sensations.

He has a new heaven and
This is but a

a new earth, and a new class of emotions.

faint emblem of the more glorious change which that man experiences whose intellect Christ opens to see the spiritual universe in its true light. "Old things pass away," &c. Physical blindness is bad, but spiritual blindness is incomparably worse. Where there is true spiritual vision, a man may be full of light whose bodily eyes are sealed from every ray. The sightless bard of England lived in a bright world; his sanctified genius bore him aloft to regions where there was no cloud; eternal sunshine filled the soul of Milton. Oh! what benefactor is equal to Him who can unseal the eye of souls!

Thirdly That His service indicates His sincerity. False teachers have ever sought to close the eye of intellect by fallacies and mystifications. But Christ's mission is to open the eye of intellect.

Fourthly: That His service shows His distinguishing peculiarity as a true Teacher. The best of human teachers can only help the intellect by the scriptures; Christ it seems can open the intellect without the scriptures; He opened their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. We say not that Jesus, as a rule, opens the intellect without the truth, but we say that it would be impertinent dogmatism to aver that He cannot do so. No other Teacher is so near the inner heart of humanity as Jesus. He does not tarry in the outer courts of sense or reason; He is in the sanctuary of INTUITION, the holiest and inmost part of the temple, and can fill it with that pure flame of divinity which is the light and glory of the holy universe. Doubtless, He can open the moral eye without the salve of truth.

Vol. IV.

2 B

The greatest friend of man is he who is the greatest helper of his intellect-who opens and brightens its spiritual eye. None of the greatest sages of the world can do this like Christ, as the history of His religion shows. Christ is the best friend of the intellect, and the best friend of the intellect is the best friend of man.

SUBJECT:-Self-denial.

"Even Christ pleased not himself," &c.—Rom. xv. 3.
"Thy will be done on earth," &c.-Matt. vi. 10.

Analysis of Homily the Hundred and Forty-sixth.

A large proportion of our acts, mental as well as physical, and the states of mind consequent upon them, are directly or indirectly under the control of the will. The will is determined by motive. Vast is the difference in the quality of the motives which determine the will. It is clear that they may conflict; it is certain that they do; it is probable that the worse will exclude the better. This is the scene where struggles, as fierce as those of armed men, have been carried on, though with no other sign of conflict than a sigh, or a groan, or bitter tears; here the sublime of heroism has been realized, or virtue weakened by defeat; unfading glory won, or cowardice disgraced. It is the sphere of self-denial, where love and conscience should interpose their rightful authority in opposition to the meaner claims of self-assertion.

The passage at the head of this paper alludes to the most illustrious pattern of self-denial which has ever been witnessed upon earth. In its present connexion it is advanced by the apostle as an incentive to social moderation and forbearance, but its aspect is as varied as the circumstances are which lead men to consult example for encouragement; and we take it here in its highest reference. Christ pleased not himself. Whom then? He pleased God. Notice

Not himself.

I. WHOM CHRIST DID NOT SEEK TO PLEASE. For the truth of the statement, we have only to consult the gospel narrative. But little is said of the youthful life of our Lord, yet we learn that in boyhood, his "Father's business" was of paramount consideration to him. When he commenced his public life, as Son of God, he was obedient to his heavenly Father, and presented, in the entire remainder of his history, an unvarying protest against selfseeking. You will see this if you think of two things :

First: What he might have been. He might have been a KING. The perverted notions of the Jews respecting the expected Messiah are well known, and offered to our Lord many occasions when he could claim their application to himself by assuming the mistaken character. But he never shaped his conduct into conformity with them. Early in his public life the suggestion was made to him that, if he would worship the "devil," the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them should be his-not an uncommon way of obtaining thrones. On another occasion, he was asked to settle the claims of a disputed inheritance; he declined interference referred the claimant to the proper authorities in civil matters, and siezed the occasion to impress upon the people a moral lesson :- "Beware of covetousness." So, after feeding the five thousand, &c., they would make him a king; he departed again into a mountain, alone.

"Though he was rich, He anticipated the

Secondly: What he actually was. yet, for our sakes he became poor." fearful termination of his career, (Mark, x. 33, 34.) but it was in the path of duty, and he did not shrink from death; "therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself."

II. WHOM CHRIST DID SEEK TO PLEASE.-God.
Two reasons show the desirableness of this:-

First: God's will is always the wisest and best for us.

(1.) Naturally. We find law and its sanctions everywhere. All natural laws (with a few apparent exceptions, which are capable of reconciliation,) are adapted to the well-being of their subjects when complied with. If man violates the laws of his bodily constitution, he incurs suffering and disease; but if he obeys, he enjoys health. If he fails to

obey his moral duties, he is punished by regret or remorse; if obedient, he possesses internal satisfaction and tranquility. (2.) Remedially. The perfection of the remedial scheme is this, that it saves man by purifying and ennobling him, and so prepares him for a higher state of existence. It should never be forgotten that deliverance from guilt is valueless unless accompanied by deliverance from sin.

Secondly: Our will is often ignorant, wrong, and pernicious. All we know of the introduction of sin into our world is, that it came through our first parents pleasing themselves in displeasing God;—an awful result of selfassertion. In the same way sin and misery have perpetuated themselves. Self-denial is necessary to well-being and happiness. If this is indispensable to all true and elevated friendship, it is not so much an abandonment as a development of one's proper self. We can, therefore, understand the bearing of our Lord's injunction, "If any man will come after me," &c. Which may be generalized thus:—in the frequent opposition between inclination and duty; the former must give way. C. H. D.

SUBJECT:-The Providence of God and the Providence of Man.

"Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow," &c.— James iv. 13-15.

Analysis of Homily the Hundred and Forty-seventh.

I. THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD. Observe here two things concerning His Providence. First: The rule of it. What

is the rule? His WILL. Ye ought to say, "If the Lord will," &c. He does what He wills. His will is the origin and law of the universe. There is nothing higher than this; it is the force of all forces. Observe, Secondly: The sphere of it. It extends over all things,-is co-extensive with the creation. But there are two particular departments of it in the text: (1.) Human life. the Lord will, we shall live." will; our "times are in His hand." (2.) Human activity. And "do this or that," you can accomplish nothing without His will.

"If

Our life depends on His

II. THE PROVIDENCE OF MAN. This is of two kinds that of the Practical Atheist, and that of the Practical Theist. Those who provide for themselves without a God, and those who do so with a God.

First That of the Practical Atheist. (1.) Purely selfish. "Buy and sell, and get gain." No thought of God-Self is everything to him; he is for "gain." (2.) Unreasonably Presumptive. "Go into such a city, and continue there a year." "Whereas," &c. It is unreasonable, because of the uncertainty and fleetness of life. "What is your life," &c.

Secondly: That of the Practical Theist. ought to say," &c.

man's providence. *

"For that ye

God is the central thought of all this

ανθροποσ.

* This germ was given to us by the most fertile-minded man, philosophic thinker, suggestive, and eloquent preacher, we have ever known. His soul is filled with the choicest grains of truth. We write it from memory, for alas! he never writes; we received it in a free conversation, and we publish with his sanction, but without his revision. It is fair to say, that he spoke of it, not because he thought it of much value, but because it was the last thing he had preached. We hope to have our pages often enriched in the future with the germinant thoughts of this remarkable man.

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