thus truly is his word fulfilled, that he that is least in the kingdom of GOD is greater than the greatest prophet. The lowest, poorest, meanest member of the Church of CHRIST, if he be a true member of it, is greater in privilege, greater in glory, yea, greater even in spiritual knowledge than the greatest saint of old. Not a better man, he says not so, but partaker of a greater privilege; just as a nobleman is greater than the richest man without a title, so the Christian is greater than the greatest prophet.

But then, if this be so, let us see how this subject applies to us. The Christian frame of mind, we see, is that of a man who, while he longs for the enjoyment of GOD in CHRIST, is content to await the LORD's time, and to endure whatever afflictions the LORD may lay upon him.

Is it so indeed? Then what are we to think of those who have never longed for heaven? who have no thought about the matter, or who look upon death with dread, and drive away the thoughts of it that they may return to the thoughts of this world? As to the mere dread of death, as such, some people feel differently from others, from mere natural temper. One man has no fears, another fears every thing; and, as far as that is concerned, little is to be thought of it, because death in that sense is little else than some great bodily pain, which some people dread and others do not. But I am speaking of that which comes after death, of heaven and hell; of the presence of GOD, and CHRIST, and saints, and angels; of the happiness of that society, the blessedness of those joys. Have you never yet known what it

is to long for this?

Then let me set before you some of the causes which may have prevented you from doing so.

The first cause is sin. The sinner has no longing

for heaven: he has no pleasure in such things as are to be enjoyed there. His joy, if joy it be, is such only as he could share with devils, who will not share it, but mock him in his woe. But has he no thought about death? Oh, yes, death to him is full of terror. It may be he hardly ever thinks about it: but he is none the better off for that. The world and its pleasures and pursuits may drown the thought for awhile: but it will come; and it will come like a strong man armed, as it is justly called, the King of Terrors. "Oh, death, how terrible art thou to the man that is at ease in his possessions."

Others, again, are always thinking about death, and thinking about it with alarm and anxiety. They cannot satisfy their minds about it. Now this is better than the other; but it is not a right state of mind. I do not say we should reprove ourselves overmuch, because it is so with us. Rather we should hope the time will come when we shall have a happier view of the matter. Only let us beware in the meanwhile, lest we should be building upon a wrong foundation. Perhaps there may be too much of self-righteousness in our minds; perhaps we may be trusting to ourselves instead of trusting in Christ alone; or we may be exacting of ourselves a hard service, as a task, whereas our obedience ought to spring from love, and be the fruit of faith; or we may be unable as yet to overcome some besetting sin, and while it remains we cannot think of death with peace. If so, only so much the greater need is there that we persevere in watchfulness and prayer.

Again, there are those who long for death, as Moses, Elias, Job, and others did, as the release from pain and suffering; not as the entrance into everlasting joy. Probably there will be found a great many who do so; and VOL. III.

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who perhaps take comfort from it, and flatter themselves it is a proof that they are fit to die. I have shewn, I think, that it is no such thing; both because the calmness with which some think of death arises merely from bodily temperament, and because it is wrong, positively wrong, in a Christian, to ask for death, so long as God chooses he should live, and much more wrong when the wish arises only from weariness of the world. What if suffering, and poverty, and pain, and grief surround you? CHRIST was made perfect through suffering; and shall you claim to go to heaven without it? Nay, this very suffering is your trial; and you ought, instead of repining, to be thankful for trials. It seems, perhaps, a hard thing to say, but you ought, indeed; and if you are a good Christian, you will be thankful that you are thus made like unto CHRIST, and prepared, by whatever present sorrow, for the enjoyment of his presence.

Lastly, there is the case of the good Christian, who, like St. Paul, longs to go, and yet is content to stay. Oh, what a happy state of mind is this, my brethren; and shall we think we cannot attain it? Not so: many and many are those, in every age of the Church, with whom it has been, blessed be God, yea, and with whom it is so. They long, with St. Paul, to depart and be with CHRIST, which they know to be far better. And yet they are content to abide the LORD's time; and that for these two reasons. First, because they do not count themselves to have already attained; they never make sure of the victory till it is won; and, also, because every thought of their hearts is brought into subjection to the will of GOD. His will, therefore, is their choice; and, in them, their Saviour's prayer is accomplished, for they do His will on earth, as it is done in heaven.

MAN'S RESPONSIBILITY.

FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.

BY THE

REV. CYRIL G. HUTCHINSON, M.A.,

LATE STUDENT of CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD; RECTOR OF BATSFORD.

ST. JAMES i. 17.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

TO

understand the exact meaning of these words, we must refer to a few verses preceding them; and, again, to understand those verses, we must make inquiries respecting certain opinions which prevailed amongst a sect of the Jews in regard to the nature and moral condition of man.

The last point, therefore, must be the first of our inquiry.

There seems to have been a notion amongst the Pharisees that all the actions of men proceeded from a sort of constraining fate or necessity; that this fate, however, arose, not from a mere chain of circumstances necessarily existing and holding together, and originally independent of all superior power and will, as the heathen thought, but from a constitution of nature, at first designed and impressed on them by the hand of the Almighty, and working together afterwards, not through his continued providence, but by its own qualities, relative affections, and dependencies.

Thus they held that certain men were born with certain propensities, which were under the influence of the stars and planets whose light and power more especially prevailed at the time of their birth. Just as at the present day, it is not uncommon to say of persons in their advance or decline of worldly circumstances, that their star is in the ascendant or decline; an expression which, though now merely figurative, is possibly derived from these notions.

But they did not stop here. If men's constitution depended on these luminaries, then their moral responsibility was in a great measure affected by this dependence; because they were not altogether their own masters, being worked upon and impelled by an external force, which they had no power of repelling perhaps, if, indeed, in any way of resisting.

Such being the case, the evil that man did was excused by them; and not only so, but charged indirectly on Almighty GOD his Creator. For as they admitted that all things were created by Him, so, if one part of his creation influenced of necessity another part, that influence must be ascribed to his work. Men, therefore, unavoidably ran, by this mode of reasoning, into opinions highly derogatory to the honour and goodness of GOD.

Now, St. James, in the Epistle before us, at least the former part of it, controverts this erroneous notion of the Pharisees in particular, and perhaps Jews in general. His Epistle, as you will observe, is addressed, according to the first verse in the chapter, as follows: "James, a servant of GOD, and of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, to the Twelve Tribes which are scattered abroad"-to the Christian Jews, that is, of the dispersion. And then, after encouraging them to sustain with constancy and resignation whatever trials might fall on them in this