CHRIST'S IMPOSSIBILITIES.

nature to which everything seems great only serves some selfish aim or interest. But to t of reason and moral insight was there not som more kingly by far in His patience of lov superiority to all considerations of a persona His sublime constancy of soul, the glorious v of His adorable benevolence over all suffering flesh, all taunts of the ungodly, all temptati the Wicked One? Yes; there was something crown of thorns truly royal after all. He King of men that wore it—a King of men,a spirit truly king-like, and the nobleness of was never more conspicuous than in that h blood.

Can we dwell on these things without experi a profound feeling of humiliation? How lit have done for Him who would not spare H one pang of His great anguish in bearing our and carrying our sorrows! And how sadly

there is in us of the noble nature which led H endure it! Many things were possible to which are impossible to us. But there are t too, which are easy to us, though they were i sible to Him. How easy do we find it to m the work which God has given us to do! could not look from heaven upon a world ly

wickedness without coming forth from the glory which He had at God's right hand, to take part in its sorrow and its wretchedness, that through Him it might be saved; but how easy do we find it to live in the very midst of sin and misery without experiencing any such impulse, or at least without feeling it in more than the slightest degree! How easy to content ourselves with a mere sentimental lamentation over the evil that is around us! How easy refrain from practical exertion to abate it! Is not this to our shame? Is it not to our shame that the sacrifices we are willing to make for one another are so few and so grudged?

Let us stir up our hearts.

to give us more of Christ's spirit.

to

Let us pray God

We should not only be better men for it, but we should be happier too. Yes, we should be happier than we are if we bore the griefs of one another more than we do. It may look a paradox, but we know it is true. Were we pained more than we are by the sight of vice and wretchedness-were it a greater grief to us than it is to see the ignorance and degradation that surround us-were we touched more deeply with that feeling of compassion which brought our Saviour from heaven to die for us all-were we thus partakers in the sufferings of Christ-is there

D

not something in our hearts which tells us that our real happiness would be increased? This is a paradox which has its evidence not only in the words of Scripture, but in our own breasts. "He that saveth his life shall lose it; but he that loseth his life for Christ's sake "-that is to say, in Christ's work— "the same shall find it." To save ourselves-to consult our own selfish ends, our own ease, our own pleasure at the expense of charity and generosity, is not this to lose ourselves, to lose all that is most worth preserving? What is there so much worth preserving as genial sympathy and God-like lovingkindness? Is our money as much worth as our heart? Is carnal ease as much worth seeking, as a withered soul is worth praying and striving to be delivered from? Was Demas wiser than Paul? Were the Pharisees more noble than Christ?

Let us pray that God would bestow upon us the grace of His Holy Spirit, so that we may enter into Christ's feeling of impossibilities, and may be rendered, like Him, unable to know without performing our Father's will, or to close our hearts against the calls of love.

He is the happiest of men who has most room in his heart; and he most blessed who blesses most, even as God who blesses all is blessed above all.

VI.

THE GOOD OF GOING TO THE HOUSE OF MOURNING.

ECCLESIASTES vii. 2-"It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.”

in the light of We are there told

THIS verse ought to be read the third chapter of this book. that there is a time for everything. "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven: a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance." It is not intended that we should be always in the midst of scenes of distress, and it would not be good for us if we were. It is not intended; else why has God placed within us so many capacities, and around us so many opportunities and means of enjoyment? Why has He made the world so beautiful? Why has He given us friends and the capacity for friendship? And it would not be good for us. The moderate enjoyment of innocent pleasures is necessary towards both our physical and our spiritual health. There are many graces of character which

THE GOOD OF GOING TO THE

require for their cultivation and display a ch social intercourse with our fellow-creatures; there are many temptations against which intercourse is no unimportant safeguard. N there any inconsistency between the disposition can best enjoy the amenities of society, and which can best enter into the griefs of the distr He who rejoices with them that rejoice, is no one who is least likely to weep with them that He who grasps your hand with a genuine cord when some good fortune has befallen you and smile is on your face, will not be the slowest to it with an equal warmth when there is sadne your house and sorrow in your heart. As the pool of clear water reflects alike the sun and cloud, so the genial nature which, with ready C tian sympathy, rejoices in your joys as if they its own, may be the best trusted to enter into distresses too, and bear them with you.

But while it would not be good for us to be al in the midst of scenes of distress, it is not on side practically that we are most disposed to It is on the other side. We are prone to shur house of mourning, and to seek rather the hou mirth. We do not need to be reminded near much that it would not be good for us to be in