the domestic circle becomes practically, if not in words, the reprover of the rest, it must also follow that this one will incur the dislike of the rest, a dislike which will show itself in more or less offensive acts, according to the dispositions and circumstances of those who entertain it. Thus it is that Christianity is turned into a sword. Admitted into the heart of an individual, it discovers itself in his life, and so makes that life a calm, but unflinching, rebuke of the unconverted, by its contrast with their own. But such rebuke must excite enmity in those who are its subjects. So that the household is necessarily divided; and to Christianity must the division be ascribed. 66 A man is set at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."1 The converted member, being secretly disliked, will, under some shape or another, be persecuted by the unconverted and thus the result is brought round that the religion which Christ propagated, though in its own nature peace, becomes, through clashing with opposing principles, a sword to the family into which it gains entrance.

You will easily extend to a neighbourhood, or nation, the reasoning thus applied to a family. Those who hold the doctrines of the Gospel in their purity, and whose conduct is regulated by its precepts, will unavoidably form a distinct party, to which Christ's words may be applied, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."2 The principles on which the righteous act are so repugnant to those which the mass of men adopt, that to look for unanimity would be to expect the concord of darkness with light. So long as there is a native enmity in the heart to holiness and God—and this 1 Matt. x. 35. 2 John xv. 19.

will remain until the nature be renewed-there lies a moral impossibility against the unbroken peace of a community composed of the righteous and the unrighteous. They are men of different natures, of different worlds: the one party has been transferred to the kingdom of Christ, the other remains in the kingdom of Satan. And since there must be war between these kingdoms, a war which shall only then terminate when evil is expelled from this creation, and the works of the devil are finally destroyed, peace can pervade no province of Christendom, unless that province contain nothing but nominal, or nothing but vital Christianity. Whilst there is nothing but nominal Christianity, there is peace, the peace of death; whilst nothing but vital, there is peace, the peace of heaven. But whilst there is a mixture, there will be necessarily collision between the two; and, just according to the character of the times, will that collision produce the flames of a fierce persecution, or the heart-burnings of a silent but rancorous hatred. Yes, Christianity is the olive-branch; but it falls upon waters, which, struck by anything pure and heavenly, boil instantly up as though stirred by a hurricane. Christianity is the dove; but it comes down to the forest where the ravenous birds and the unclean shelter, and the gentlest waving of its wing rouses the brood whose haunts seem invaded. Christianity, in short, is peace; but it is peace proposed to rebels with their weapons in their hands: and who knows not, that, if one of these rebels accept, whilst the others refuse the proffered boon, those who adhere to their treason will turn upon him who takes the oath of allegiance, and treat him as basely recreant to the cause he had espoused? We require, therefore, nothing but the confession that man, in his natural state, is the enemy of God, and that, consequently, there must be

direct contrariety between his principles, and those of a religion which makes God the first object of love. This having been granted, you may take the case either of a nation or a family, of empires broken into parties and sects, or of households where the flow of social charities has been suddenly arrested; but sufficiency of producing cause has been assigned, to explain, without impeaching the tendencies of Christianity, why our Lord's words have all along been verified, "I came not to send peace, but a sword."

We have thus examined our text under different points of view, and have only, in conclusion, to remark how strictly our statements harmonize with prophecies which delineate the final spread of Christianity. We have shown you that it is simply because but partially received that Christianity is practically a sword on the earth. Make the reception universal, and in place of acting as a sword, Christianity would bind into one all the households and all the hearts of human kind. Thus the tendencies of the religion are to the producing, and, when produced, to the preserving, that glorious state of things which is yet promised in Scripture, when "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; when "Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.”2 We can prove Christianity fitted for the universal religion: we can prove also, that, if universally received, there would be universal peace and universal joy, the millennial day of a long-troubled creation. It may then even yet be a sword, but oh, that every heart were pierced by it, and every family penetrated. Christianity may cause dissensions, and we lament them as proofs of the frailty and corruption of our nature; 1 Isa. ii. 4.

2 Isa. xi. 13.

" 1

but we would not exchange these dissensions for the undisturbed quiet of spiritual lethargy.. We know them to be tokens of life: where enmity is excited, godliness is making way. And, therefore, we will not say, in the words of the prophet, "O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still."1 We will rather say with the Psalmist to Messiah, "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty; and in thy majesty ride prosperously."2 We wish no scabbard for the sword but the hearts of the whole human population. Thus sheathed, the Jubilee year begins: the one sword, like Aaron's rod, swallows up every other; and the universal wound is the universal health.

Let each of us remember, that, ere Christianity can be to him peace, it must be to him a sword. The "broken and contrite heart" 3 precedes the assurance that we are "accepted in the beloved."4 "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself."5 Where are there sharper, more cutting words than these, when spoken by God's Spirit to the soul? "But in me is thine help found." What syllables can breathe more of hope, of comfort, of serenity? The sword Christianity is that weapon which heals in wounding: there is balsam on its point, and as it pierces it cures. Teaching man to feel himself lost, what can more lacerate the spirit? Teaching man that whosoever will may be saved by a Mediator, what balm can be more medicinal? May God grant unto all of us, that, being first stricken with a sense of sin, we may be "justified by faith," and thus have "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ!"

SERMON VI

THE DEATH OF MOSES

"And the Lord spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying, Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which E give unto the children of Esrael for a pos= session; and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people."-DEUT. xxxii. 48-50.

THE long wanderings of the Israelites were now about

to be concluded. That wicked generation, which had provoked God by their murmuring and rebellion, had been exterminated according to the divine threat; and their children stood by the waters of Jordan, waiting the command to go over and expel the Canaanites. The land, flowing with milk and honey, was actually in view; the land which had been promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and in order to the possession of which by their descendants, Egypt had been desolated with plagues, and a mystic pillar of fire and cloud had traversed the wilderIt was a moment of great excitement, and of great triumph: many must have looked impatiently on the river, which now alone divided them from their heritage,

ness.