In the glass, looking into it, he sees the features of his natural face; in the Word of Truth, hearing it, he discerns his moral complexion, the features of his spiritual countenance, the face of his soul. If he deliberately stands before the glass, or casually glances into it as he passes by, he cannot help seeing his natural face; there may be the dust of a day's journey, or work upon it, what is there he sees: if he deliberately comes where the Word of Truth is to be heard, if it be preached in his hearing, he cannot The natural help getting some glimpse, at least, of his moral face just seen. features, the complexion and lineaments of his spiritual nature: to hear the Word of Truth is to see ourselves as we are. Wherever a true Gospel sermon is preached, wherever men are reasoned with about "righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come," wherever sin is condemned, and a Saviour commended, there, as in a glass, men see clearly their moral features. Even with the most careless of hearers there are times when they are pricked to the heart, when they are moved by the persuasions of the truth, when they resolve to pay more attention to their eternal interests; what are these but so many glimpses of themselves in the mirror of the Word? As the man saw his natural face in a glass, they see their moral likeness in the Word.

Who does not see

himself here?

This man, of whom the apostle speaks, saw his face in a glass, and went his way. What a speaking likeness of the mere hearer! All the service through he has been a "hearer," decorous, apparently earnest, catching glimpses, now and then, in the mirror ! The service is over, and he goeth his way to his farm, or to his merchandise, the self-same man he was before he came the sound out of his ears, the meaning is out of his sight, the image and likeness utterly forgotten-straightway he forgetteth. Regrets, feelings of unworthiness, religious longings and desires, all the resolutions and momentary prayers, he goeth his way and forgetteth them all, and the working week-days will find him as unspiritual in heart and mind as if there had been no blessed day of Sabbath rest on which he was allowed to hear the Word that was able to save his soul. If he had allowed it to take hold of his intellect and of his heart, if he had personally appropriated it, feeling its

worth and his need, he might have gone away, but he would not have forgotten what he was like, he would have carried the mirror with him. It is the want of this that does all the mischief; it is the being contented with the mere looking and going away. Observe, this mere looking is not hasty, careless, or indifferent it is attentive, intelligent, ensuring a considerable knowledge and understanding of the letter of the Word, only it stops short of personal reception, of genuine belief and love. And so the man goes away and straightway forgets.

:

But there is another side to all this, another way of looking into the mirror, with a very different result. "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein," &c.

Looking more

Beholding.

And first, that word "looking": a different word from that translated "beholding," in the previous case, denoting a far more intense activity of mind and heart; it means personal and cordial interest, too absorbed in what it is doing willingly to withdraw its gaze. "Beholding" was not a listless, indifferent glance, "looking" is a close, earnest enquiry, knowing the eternal interests involved; "beholding" was more an action than of the inquisitive intellect; "looking" is more that of the sensitive conscience and of the affectionate heart. Indeed, "looking" is far too weak a word for what the apostle would be at; poring over, peering into, at the risk of hurting the eye-sight, would come nearer his meaning. The man, of whom he now speaks, has the mirror lying before him; he is bending over it, absorbed in the contemplation of what he sees in it; he has no eyes for anything else but what is clearing itself more and more to his vision; he is stooping over and he is looking into the perfect law of liberty. It is the same word which is used of the disciples, who, when they came to the sepulchre of our Saviour, stooped down, bent down, peered into the yet darkened place where their Lord had lain; it is the same word which is used of the all-absorbing interest which the angels have in that same death and resurrection-" which things they desire to look into," bending down with keen desire to know the mystery.

The man who looks into the perfect law of liberty with a look

of this kind will not soon withdraw his gaze: he does not go away, he "continueth therein," fascinated by what he sees, hopes and fears alike excited, all the motives by which an earnest man is moved called forth; he bends over it, and "he continueth therein." What is the result? He has looked into the perfect law of liberty till it has absorbed his whole thoughts: what is the result? He utters his thoughts: he does what he has heard into a poem which touches all hearts by its pathos and purity, which sounds depths in the human heart unfathomed before! In another region of life and work you would call such a man a poet, a heaven-born genius; is it just or fair to call this one a mere enthusiast? Are ye not unjust judges who call the man who broods over his own thoughts till he must, and does, give The Doer. utterance to them a poet, a doer, a maker, while ye refuse the like name, the like reality, to him who broods over God's thoughts till he is constrained to make them the living principle of his life, so that it is no more he himself that liveth so much as it is Christ that liveth in him? Why should it be a thing incredible with you that a man shall so listen to the Word of God, shall be so absorbed in it, that he shall be able to give himself no rest till he shall have done that hearing into a far nobler poem than ever poet sung; a poem incarnate, poetry inspired and alive through every fibre of its being? Was not Milton's Life the grander poem? and just because he did this very thing, because he looked into this perfect law of liberty and saw there, and from his youth acted up to what he saw, that only as he made the very purity itself the principle of his life could he be a Doer, a Poet? The Greeks, with their wonderful insight into the meaning of things, seeking a word to designate the poet, called him a doer, or maker; the word which the apostle here uses for a doer is the word the Greeks used for a poet: reality being the attribute common to both, earnest brooding over what is heard till it be done!

GLASGOW.

PETER RUTHERFORD,

Germs of Thought.

Christ's Completed Work.

"WHEN JESUS THEREFORE HAD RECEIVED THE VINEGAR, Hɛ SAID, IT IS FINISHED: AND HE BOWED HIS HEAD, AND GAVE UP THE GHOST."-John xix. 30.

IT is remarkable how in Christ's case the ruling passion was strong in death. His great object on earth was to fulfil the work God had given Him to do. And His last thought and last words referred to that "It is finished!"

[References to this finishing; showing how faithful Christ was to His mission. He ever kept before Him the work He had to do. Thus-John xvii. 4; iv. 34; vi. 38; ix. 4.]

And since we have to walk in His steps, His life and that dying word present these lessons. First: Our faithfulness in things temporal; do all things with thy might. Secondly: Our faithfulness in things spiritual; loving God ourselves, and leading others to Him. And thus in our last hours we should make the proud, yet calm confession,-"It is finished!" To know the full meaning of these words we must noticeI. WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF CHRIST'S MISSION ON EARTH. 1. He came on earth to declare and reveal to men the will of God. The need of that declaration is in man's extreme ignorance; witness the tendency to idolatry of untaught men. How much can man know intuitively? Very little. He depends almost entirely on revelation. And Christ came to explain previous revelations, and make a new one, expressing thus the Father's determination toward mankind. He came to declare the will of God concerning the present and future life. How He did this; observe His teachings, for they show the duties of the present life, the relationship that subsists between mortals and their God, and open out many mysteries of the future state.

2. He came as a prophet. To what purpose? That He might

foretell the future; e.g. how God would deal with rebellious sinners and receive the repentant one, thus leading men Godward by warning and by hope.

3. He came, further, as our example. The benefit of an example; the easiness of imitation, as laid against the difficulty of living by abstract principles. How the child learns most readily. Christ's example perfectly displayed. Men were safe when following either His words, or thoughts, or deeds; and these were so thoroughly put before men that the Saviour could truthfully say,-"It is finished!"

4. But the main purpose of Christ's mission to earth was to make atonement for sin. The apostle, writing to the Hebrews, says, "Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." To copy another's words, this means to put away "the whole evil in the world through the fall; both the nature and the consequences of sin, the root and fruits, the guilt and the power; the first by the sacrifice on the cross, the second by the power of His Spirit." Christ could look at each of these objects, and truthfully say,-"It is finished!" (Eph. ii. 13, &c.)

II. THE SATISFACTION AT THAT LAST HOUR WAS GREAT. And yet

1. There was but little apparent result. A few followers; here and there a grateful heart for the wonder worked upon the weakened frame, or the spirit redeemed from devil-thraldom and made subject to God; twelve disciples; a few frail women, &c. But what are these among so many?

2. Placed against this the combined hatred of Pharisees and Scribes; the scorn of the Roman governor; the sceptical, mocking Herod; the brutal outcry of the rabble; and almost every Jew saying, "We have"-not this man-but "Abraham to our father." More than this, a wide world held fast in pagan bonds, or the dark philosophies of the East, or the savagery of African wilds.

3. What then? How could Christ truthfully utter those dying words? But God's measure of results differs so from man's. Man takes up the little details one by one, and, as he examines, he forgets to measure how each detail is fraught with mighty