Do not

quite sure, and act up to this. trouble yourselves about things of which you are not quite convinced. Do not make yourselves out better than you are; but be as good as the best part that is in you, and then you will gradually grow better and wiser, "without partiality, and without hypocrisy."

And this brings us to the concluding and best means by which we can arrive at the truth of Christ, and that is, by communion with Him in spirit, and in truth. Had we seen Him on earth, we cannot doubt that any false subterfuge would have quailed before the glance of his eye; every artifice would have been rent asunder by the keen bright sword of His word. So it may be still. Fix in your minds one of His "quick, sharp, two-edged" sayings:-they do indeed "pierce even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow" they do indeed "discern the thoughts and intents of our hearts." There is "no creature that is not manifest in His sight,"-"all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."1 "In Him is light, and no dark1 Heb. iv. 12, 13.

ness at all." May He "unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit," and prepare us for that city, whose street is pure gold, as it were transparent glass, from which is cast out "whatsoever loveth or maketh a lie."2

1 John i. 5.

2 Rev. xxi. 18, 21, 27.

SERMON V.

THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST.

(PREACHED JAN. 4, 1857.)

MATT. viii. 28.

And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the Scribes.

On the following Sundays, I purpose to consider the special aspect of our Lord's teaching brought out in the several Gospels. The first that we must consider is that which appears in the Gospel of S. Matthew, now being read in the Church Services, and which is best described in the words of the text. Let us take each part of it separately, and see what we may learn from it.

I. First, what is meant by "His doctrine?" In our time the word is commonly used in the sense of an abstract, speculative truth, as opposed to practical, moral lessons or applications of truth. We should say, for example, that the creeds contained "the doctrine," and the catechism "the practice" of Christianity. We should call a discourse on Predestination or on the Eternal Generation a doctrinal sermon, and a discourse against theft or falsehood a moral sermon. We should call the first part of the Epistle to the Romans doctrinal, and the latter part practical. This kind of language is convenient and allowable, if we are careful to remember that it is modern not ancient language, the language of men and not the language of Scripture. In Scripture the word doctrine, which is in fact only another word for teaching, is never so confined. In this very passage it is applied, not to any truths which we should now call doctrines, but to the Sermon on the Mount, which from first to last contains not a single statement which would commonly be called doctrinal. And so throughout the New Testament it includes

equally all parts of the Gospel teaching. The modern distinction which has since grown up was then unknown. Every precept was a doctrine; every doctrine was a precept. The highest revelations of the nature of God and of man were given with a direct practical bearing on the conduct and hearts of mankind. The humblest precepts of humility, of courtesy, of love, of justice, were revelations of the mind of God and of the salvation of man. It is important to remember this we are all of us apt to put asunder what God has thus joined together. Some are tempted to think that Christian belief is more important than Christian prac tice. Others are tempted to think that Christian practice may easily abound without foundation in Christian belief. Against both errors the Scriptural use of the word "doctrine" is a useful and constant protest. The "word of Christ" was "meekness, righteousness, and truth." And, again, it shows us that there is, perhaps, a greater unity amongst Christians than we are sometimes willing to allow. In Christian doctrine, commonly so called, there are, doubtless, great and manifold differences.