cession of thy dear Son, and to give us time for repentance, and thy Holy Spirit, that we may be made able to bring forth the good fruits of a holy life, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

XVIII.

John made all people who came to him understand that it was useless for them to be baptized by him, unless they were determined to live the new life of which their baptism was to be both the beginning and the sign. He then shewed them that his teaching was itself only intended to be the beginning of those great things which were just going to be given to the world. All that he could do, was to shew them the way to the kingdom of heaven. He could not give it them. That gift belonged to the Lord, whose way he had come to prepare. He said:

MATTHEW iii. 11. "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."

The baptism the Messiah would give them was not only to be the outward sign, but it was to be the "inward spiritual grace." John did not count himself worthy even to be his servant. He had come to prepare the way before him; but he was not worthy even to carry his shoes. He, the Messiah, would give them the Holy Ghost to dwell in them, and to change their sinful natures into holiness of heart, even as the fire purifies the gold by burning away all the dross and clay that is mixed with it when it is first taken out of the mine. This was to be his baptism. He was come to destroy the works of the devil, to bruise his head as God had promised to Adam and to Eve when, by their disobedience, they had lost their first state of holy happiness. Jesus the Messiah was come to give back this state to all who would be his disciples; for there is not

one person who earnestly loves the Lord Jesus, and desires to serve him, but shall be given that holy baptism, that inward purification, which shall even in this life make him the child of God; and in that life to which he shall pass, by dying, far happier than Adam was in Paradise.

But John warned them that the Messiah was one who could not be deceived. He knew the true from the false; no pretence of religion, no outside shew could be of the least use. The farmer would just as soon mistake chaff for wheat, as the Messiah mistake a hypocrite for a really religious man. Let them take care, for as the husbandman comes to his heap of threshed corn to winnow the chaff from the wheat, so would Christ separate the hypocritical and the careless, from the humble and holy in heart.

Verse 12. "His fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather the wheat into his garner (or granary) but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

These words of John must have stirred up men's minds, which were already full of impatient expectation for the coming of the long promised Messiah, and they ought to have shewn them, that the kingdom he was to set up, was one of holiness, not of earthly greatness. Before he spoke these words, St. Luke tells us, chapter iii. 15., that " as the people were in expectation (of the Messiah), all men mused (thought) in their hearts of John, whether he were the Messiah or not."

We shall see afterwards, that when the Jews sent Priests and Levites from Jerusalem, to ask him if he were the Christ, whose coming they were looking for, he declared to them that he was only his messenger, and repeated nearly the same words as I have told you he said to all the people. That he was unworthy even to be the servant of the Messiah, and that there was a great difference between his baptism of repentance, and

the baptism the Messiah was coming to give to all who sought for it.

It seems very wonderful that the Jews, who had taken the trouble to send Priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask John if he was the Messiah; and if not the Messiah, to ask who he was; did not, when he answered them in this way, beg to know where the true Messiah was to be found, who was to be preferred before John himself, and whose teaching was to warm and search their hearts like fire. If they had really cared for such a baptism, they would have shewn it by being anxious to find him who could give it; but it was an earthly king they sought for, and we shall soon see how they shewed their rage and disappointment, when they found the long-hoped-for Messiah's kingdom was not of this world.

Are you surprized at this? You need not. Just think how, Sunday after Sunday, the ministers of God tell how all the blessings that the Lord Jesus Christ will freely give to every one who seeks for them, may be found, and yet how few pay the least attention at the time, or if they listen, how few care enough about these blessings to seek for them. Then think what a difference there would be, if the same ministers said from the pulpit that they could shew them where to find a hundred pounds, which might be theirs if they chose to look for it. What a stir there would be; how those people, who were half asleep, would waken up to listen! How those, who were thinking of other things, would immediately become attentive! As soon as the sermon was over, how they would flock to their ministers to question them how and where the hundred pounds was to be had! What haste they would make to find it! I believe that very little else would be thought of till each one had safely got into his hands his hundred pounds. The reason of this is plain. Everybody likes to have money, for everybody feels that he wants it. Even those who have enough, like to have more, because they have always some way in which they

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would like to spend it, or something they would like to do with it. Some want it to lay by, that they may have it to rely on when they are sick, or when they are old.

All this is quite natural, for every body feels that none of the good things of this life can be had without money, and though they know that it cannot give them either health or happiness, it can give them many other things, so they are anxious to have it. And if they were as much convinced that they could not have any happiness at all, on the contrary, that they must be miserable for ever, unless they found Jesus Christ their Saviour, they would be still more anxious to find him. A hundred pounds, even if well spent, is soon spent; but the riches Christ came to give, are never spent, for the Christian's fortune is in heaven. It is laid up for him there, quite safe. He really has something to look to in sickness and in old age. dies, and how soon all must die! he will possess his fortune, he will be rich indeed, and for ever. Let us think of this. We shall not be surprized that the Jews were disappointed when they found that the Lord Jesus came to save them from their sins, and not from the Romans; that He came to make them good, but not to make them great; that He offered them holiness instead of riches; the joys of heaven, but not the joys of earth. Let us be wiser than they were, and be thankful fɔr his unspeakable gift.

Prayer.

When he

Lord, increase our faith. Make us really to feel that this life is fast passing away-that we can keep nothing we possess here, so that we may be anxious to seek from thee the true riches; that when death comes we may be received into thine eternal kingdom.

Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not to attain thy heavenly mercies, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord." Amen.

XIX.*

*The history of Christ in the New Testament cannot be of any use to us, unless we clearly understand this truth, that Jesus Christ was our substitute, and took upon himself the nature of man, that he might be the Representative of all men. Now you will easily understand the meaning of the words substitute and representative, when I remind you of some things which are common among us. 'A man is drawn for a soldier-he does not wish to go-if he can find a substitute he need not go, for the substitute becomes a soldier in his stead. If war comes, the substitute must go and fight, while he stays at home, and he may say to himself if his substitute is killed, it would have been I who was killed, had I not found a substitute.'

This common way of one man going instead of another to be a soldier, will make us understand how the Lord Jesus Christ was our substitute in every thing which he suffered.

He was our Representative. You will understand what this means, if you think of a common way in which a number of people, often a whole village, choose out some two or three from among themselves to take a message from them to their landlord. They all wish to speak to him, but they cannot all go; so they make the men they choose understand what they wish to be said, and these men may not speak any words of their own, because they are the representatives of the whole village. If the landlord receives them kindly, the whole village knows that the kindness is meant for it; if on the contrary, he receives them unkindly and with incivility, the whole village feels that it is meant for it, because the messengers were the representatives of the whole village.

A whole parish or village may have done something which it is impossible the landlord can agree to, or approve of, and that parish or village may choose a man of excellent character to go to the landlord to speak to him about it, but no one could be surprized if the landlord refused even to see this man, or if he saw him, that he should seem displeased with him in spite of his own good character; because the man, though a good man, represented the whole parish or village which had done the wrong.

In London there is always an ambassador from each of the other countries that England has any thing to do with. This ambassador is a man who is chosen by his own king or people, to represent the whole country from which he comes. He attends to all its business, and as long as there is peace between it and England, he is treated as a friend, but if there comes a war, he is immediately sent away. He is looked upon as an enemy, because, though he is but one man, he is the representative of his whole country.

There is an ambassador or representative of England in this manner, now