A HOMILY

ON

The Great Biography.

"In him was life."-John i. 4.

O POSSESS a priceless jewel, to own a picture by Claude or a statue by Canova, or to have a rare copy of an ancient book, is a source of congratulation to many, and much regret oftentimes takes possession of the mind of those who covet, but do not own,

such things. The valuable in Nature, the rare in Time, and the beautiful in Art, have a strange fascination over some men; but a common Bible, an offered Saviour, and a weekly Sabbath, are possessions of infinitely more value to them, when appropriately used, than the possession of a diamond of light, or an original copy of Shakspere's plays. They do not, however, think this. And hence, the most common gifts, which are in general the best, are treated with indifference and often with scorn. The rapidity, for example, with which Bibles are being circulated in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, is rendering them more accessible, but is at the same time augmenting the responsibilities of humanity. And there is a danger that their universal diffusion may lead men to neglect the study of the peerless character of Jesus Christ-the Alpha and the Omega of

Vol. VIII.

G

Revelation-the chief and the most precious of the gifts of

God.

As the thoughtful traveller, when about to set out on a voyage to a distant land, is anxious to place himself under an experienced captain; and the botanist, who is desirous of exploring the Flora of the Himalayan mountains, acquaints himself with the researches of Sir Joseph Hooker, so it is natural to suppose that the pilgrim to eternity, would study with eagerness the Life of Him, who is the way to everlasting blessedness. You are aware, that it is more pleasant to travel in company than alone; for the way is shortened, the dangers are lessened, and the hopeful cheer the despairing, as Feeble-mind, who had set out from the town of Uncertain, was comforted by Great-Heart, when on his pilgrimage to the City of God. The narrow way of life is, however, frequently entered with trembling anxiety, and sometimes alone. But there is none can tell us better of its dangers, and instruct us how to walk safely therein, than He who travelled on it for upwards of thirty years, and found at its termination, a Gethsemane of anguish and a malefactor's death; but Who, when His earthly humiliation was ended, triumphed over death and the grave, and when He had revealed himself to His disciples, left them with a parting blessing and command, and amid attendant angels, ascended to the right-hand of His Father in Heaven; where He is now seated as our mediator and advocate, but Who still looks down from His exalted throne, and with watchful eye guides those who have, like Christian, set their faces toward Mount Zion.

The knowledge of this Life, acquired by prayer and meditation and the Holy Spirit, will ennoble our souls and purify our feelings, strengthen right resolves, prove the best preservative from temptation, and be the surest treasury of moral power: it will be an everflowing source of joy which sorrow will replenish rather than exhaust; and while placing ourselves under His almighty protection the delights of His disinterested friendship will more than compensate for the

hollowness of earthly connexion. He has promised to deliver us when tempted, to stick close to us in adversity, and keep us safe in the slippery paths of youth.

Let us notice briefly a few characteristic aspects of the Great Biography :

First The Life of Christ is a Living Life. It was intensely real and earnest. He was homeless. "The birds of the air had nests, but the Son of Man had not where to lay his head." He was "tempted as we are, yet without sin." "He was hungered." "He was wearied." "He was reviled, yet reviled not again.” “He was sorrowful even unto death." But now that He is in heaven, He is enabled from His earthly experience to sympathize with man. This distinguishes His life from every other life. In reading the biography of Solon the legislator, or of Alexander the conqueror, we are forcibly reminded that these men have now no concern in the ongoings of the human race. Death took them away for ever from the labors of Time. They have done with man and have gone to their great account with God. Their thoughts and actions, however, are perpetuated, but over these they have now no control. The good or evil influence of their expressed experience, is ripening until the eternal harvest comes. It is very different with the life of Jesus. He still lives and has a personal interest in the influence of His thoughts and character on man. He knows those who are secretly longing after union with Him, but who have not yet seen the noonday clearness of eternal truth. And He has, in words of tenderness and comfort said, "He will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax," but will strengthen the frail, encourage the earnest doubter, heal the broken in heart, and kindle into a flame of love the smouldering embers of heavenly desires. And although upwards of eighteen-hundred years have been added to the hoary past, since Jesus graced with His presence the marriage festival of Cana, and invited the weary and heavy laden to come unto Him for rest and peace, His presence still lives in the heart of every

loving disciple. And it is His present living life which enables us to love Him with increasing fervor. A dead Saviour may be reverenced, but cannot be loved. There can therefore be no love to Christ where there is not a personal recognition of His present life. Love cannot exist without life. And there can be no Christian life without Christian love. Here, then, we get a glimpse of the grandeur of the Saviour's life. He is living now and is interested in the success of His work in Time. He surveys the world of men from His omniscient outlook. And we are told that when an erring prodigal returns to his father's love, the Saviour "sees of the travail of his soul and is satisfied," and the angels of God are glad with exstatic joy. Faith alone enables us to embrace this great truth, and we are constrained to gratitude by its overwhelming power. It is therefore necessary in studying this Life that you should feel that the heart which beat with compassion over privileged Jerusalem, still beats over lost souls; and that He, who painted as with a finger of light, to the hypocrites of the Holy Land, knows the double-minded still, and that the presence which hallowed the home of Bethany, still presides over every Christian household, and that He is still anxious to be the Divine instructor of every enquiring mind.

The throbbing life of cities affects us more than the solemn silence of the churchyard among the mountains; the noble career of Wilberforce is more energizing than the pursuits of the antiquarian Warton; but the moral influence which the life of Jesus exerts on an earnest mind far exceeds these in the intensity of its power, because it brings the soul into immediate contact with the source of life, and supplies regal motives for Christian ardour and prolonged thought. Life can alone communicate life, and if you desire to become living men, it is necessary to know the Living life.

Secondly: The Life of Christ is a Loving Life. There may be life where there is not love. But wherever there is Christian life, there is Christian love-the two cannot be dissevered. They are united like the soul and body, and their union is as mysterious. "God is love." Christ is God,

Christ is therefore love. Scripture announces the joyful intelligence, that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Everlasting love came with everlasting life into the world, and while Christ was the revealer of the heart of God, His whole earthly life, from the cradle to the Cross, was the visible expression of the everlasting love of His Heavenly Father. But love must have an object on which to fix itself, and that on which it fixes, reveals to us its nature and the character of its possessor. The men who devote their lives to historical research, are in general prompted by the love of fame and the desire to obtain the historian's crown. Those on the other hand, who crave after the possession of power, Napoleon-like, dip their swords in blood, and trample on the rights of man, until they ascend the throne of conquest and rule with iron hand. Man, who had thrown off allegiance to Heaven, degraded by sin and sunk in iniquity, as loathsome to the soul as the leper to the eye, was the object of the Saviour's love. He loved His enemies and healed their diseases. He wept over those who despised His mercy and spurned His loving invitations; and He prayed for His crucifiers when in the agonies of death. It is therefore necessary to keep in mind, in your study of The Great Biography, that it is a life of Infinite Love. Love directing every thought, prompting every act of benevolence and in every manifestation revealing the GodMan. All moral power is derivable from Him. He gave an omnipotent weapon to man when He gave him love; and it will finally conquer error and vice and subdue the world. It has already gained great moral victories. It transformed Saul the persecutor into Paul the saint. The epistles of the beloved disciple, John, are suffused with its saintly power. Its influence is observable on all the spiritual heroes of the past,-Augustine, Luther, Knox, Bunyan, Newton, who communicated new impulses to theology, literature, and science. It has changed moral deserts into spiritual gardens, where joy, peace, meekness, and beneficence, bloom in beauty like.