says the Divine wisdom, in the Book of Proverbs; that is, you must meet him in his ignorance, and by that correct him. And thus our Lord endeavoured to catch them, as it were, in the nets of their own pride. He saw how blind they were, and in their blindness wandering far out of the way, and yet that they would not accept His guiding hand, because they thought themselves wise and clear-sighted. It is, therefore, as if He had said, Now, you are all anxious for honour and distinction, I will therefore advise you which is the best course for you to adopt in order to obtain it. This advice the worst of them could not despise; but the better among them would be rendered thoughtful, would consider over what our Lord could mean, would remember His strange expression, "If you are desirous of honour, sit down in the lowest place." We cannot but suppose that among that company there must have been some who thus returned home, pondering over and considering what the Divine Teacher, Who restored the dropsical man, could intend by this instruction. One thing was evident, that He wished them all to take the lowest place,-such was to be their conduct. But what was their motive to be? "That when the master of the feast cometh, he may say, 'Go up higher;' then shalt thou have worship in the sight of them that sit at meat with thee." But when is this to be? Who is this master of the feast, who will know the right place for each? Does it allude to that table of which our Lord speaks on another occasion, when He says that they shall come from all parts of the world, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingdom of Heaven. It was probably so understood, for it was

2 Prov. xxvi. 5.

apparently at this feast that afterwards, when our Lord exhorts him that invited him when he made a feast to invite the poor, one present exclaimed, "Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God." As if it were to that our Lord had directed their thoughts.

And He ends by comprising it all in this short sentence: For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Many are the forms of humility, or the ways in which it shows itself, which our Lord sets forth in different parables; on this occasion it is taking the lowest place at a feast; at another, it is one who in prayer stands afar off, not daring to lift up his eyes to Heaven; in another, it is one who comes with the words, "Father, I am not worthy to be called Thy son, make me as one of Thine hired servants;" in another parable, it is one who loved much because he felt he had been forgiven much; in another, it is one who, even at the last Day, says with surprise, "Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, and ministered unto Thee ?" as if quite unconscious of any good in himself that should claim so great reward. Many also are the examples which set forth the same in different aspects, but this one expression embraces all.

There seems some great mystery on this subject of humility, as connected with our justification, with the atonement of Christ and our faith. Perhaps the less we say to explain it the less likely we shall be to fall into error; for it is one on which the most wise have fallen, but the meek will be guided aright in the way of peace. All that we know is, that there is nothing which our Blessed Lord has so laboured to inculcate upon us, as this one grace of humility; or rather, not as one grace, but as that without which there can be no grace whatever in

the soul on which God looks with approbation. By His example, by His parables, by precepts and exhortations without number, He has declared to us the infinite importance of it. No words, therefore, can possibly express of what moment it is to each one of us that we labour after it.

Whatever other meaning this parable may have, of taking the lowest place at the wedding feast, we may be quite sure that it is rightly explained of the Lord's table, at which they that hunger are filled. There can be no doubt that he will be the highest in God's favour who comes to that Divine Table with the most lowly mind, most deeply sensible of his own unworthiness.

If such lowliness is most becoming for the guests at a man's table; if it is the most availing disposition in prayer to God; if feeling most the need of forgiveness it loves most; if it is most rich in pardon to enemies and compassions to all, there can be no time and no place where it is more needed, than when we come to the altar of God, to partake in the Body and Blood of Him Who humbled Himself from Heaven to earth for our sakes.

SERMON LXV.

The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity.

I Cor. i. 4-8. St. Matt. xxii. 34-46.

CHRIST ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD.

He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call Him LORD,

saying,

The LORD said unto my LORD, Sit Thou on My right hand, tid 1 make Thine enemies Thy footstool ?-ST. MATT. xxii. 43, 44.

ALTHOUGH the Epistle for the day is always placed

before the Gospel, and is therefore to be first considered by us, yet we know that, in point of fact, it usually alludes to circumstances which occurred long after those of which the Gospel speaks, and after important changes had taken place, by our Lord's ascent to Heaven, and the coming of the Holy Ghost. It would therefore often tend to edification, if we could take the Epistle after the Gospel, in which case it would afford a striking confirmation of its truth, or introduce precepts flowing from it. Such is much the case to-day. For how wonderful is the language of our short Epistle, when we consider it as a fulfilment of that which our Lord alluded to in the Gospel, as the text mentions. He spoke of that mysterious expression

of David, when it was all unintelligible to the Jews; but how different was the case when St. Paul wrote! Sitting at the right hand of God, and there seen by the eye of aith, He had poured down such gifts on His Church, and exerted such power in the hearts of believers, that about five-and-twenty years after our Lord had thus spoken St. Paul was able to write to the Corinthians, appealing to his and their own experience in such words as these :—

I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; that in everything ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you; so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Church of Corinth was peculiarly rich in these spiritual gifts, the outward manifestations of power, but all intended to promote their spiritual profit, and to prepare them for Christ's return in judgment. And thus, in the opening of this Epistle, St. Paul bears testimony to these gifts, showing how much he rejoiced in these their privileges, and giving solemn thanks for them, before he proceeds, as he afterwards does in this Epistle, to correct the abuses of them, and to turn their attention to the great end of all, that charity which comprehends the love of God. and the love of our neighbour.

He

The passage, moreover, is remarkable, as St. Chrysostom observes of it, and indeed of the whole of this Epistle, for the very frequent mention of the Name of Christ. speaks of the grace bestowed by Christ, of their being enriched by Christ, of the testimony of Christ confirmed in them, of their waiting for Christ's coming, of Christ so