SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER
TRINITY.

THE KNOWN AND UNKNOWN LOVE
OF CHRIST.

That ye may be able. . . . to comprehend what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.-EPH. iii. 18, 19. THE glorious excellence of these words almost induces us to desist from the attempt to treat them; their brilliancy is too great for us to view them as clearly and as distinctly as we would. Still, we may let them inspire us with some thoughts upon the twofold view of the love of Christ as an object which is both without and within the range of our understanding. We look at His love to us as that which is

I. BEYOND THE RANGE OF HUMAN MEASUREMENT AND APPREHENSION. We have here the thought presented to us of-1. The love of Christ as that which is of immeasureable magnitude in all directions. The sky has breadth and length and height, but no (apparent) depth; the river has length, but little breadth; the sea depth and breadth, but no height; the mountain height and breadth, but no depth. The love of Christ is an over-arching sky, broad as the heavens, embracing all lands and peoples in the wide reach of its gentleness and mercy. At the same time, it is a far-reaching river running through every age and land with its cleansing, life-giving streams. At the same time, it is a deep sea, whose depth of Divine wisdom no plummet of human understanding can sound. At the same time, it is a cloud-girdled mountain whose peaks of moral majesty no human foot has climbed. Here is magnitude in all .directions. Look in this direction, in that direction, in all directions, and you behold

He

the love of Christ, and beyond is still His love. If we could form any right conception of it, we have much to master; we must comprehend its breadth, its length, its depth, its height. Do we ask how broad is the love of Christ? We do not know, but certainly broad as the family of man. In Him is neither Greek nor Jew, bond nor free. There is no latitude or longitude which His love does not cross. Humanity in its widest range counts one degree of the breadth of the love of Christ. What is the measure of its length? It is long as time, and longer far. From the beginning we all dwelt in His Divine interest, in His redeeming purpose; to the end we shall dwell in His watchful love. Time itself counts one degree in its large duration. What is its depth? It is deep as the spiritual nature of man. No superficial love is His. It is ourselves with our boundless capacities for good and evil that He is caring for. knows, as we know not, to what awful depths of sin and sorrow and deathfulness we may go down. His love reaches these dark depths and strikes beneath them. What is the measure of its height? It is high as the glory to which He will raise us. Who of us can imagine what it is in His heart to give us in the far future of the heavenly life? What spheres we shall fill, what influence exert, what visions see, what joys inherit? As love is greater than its gift, we are sure that the loftiest altitudes to which Christ will raise His most faithful servants will only count some degrees of the height of "His immeasurable grace." 2. The love of Christ as that which transcends our understanding: it "passeth knowledge." We see clearly that it must do so; for the nature of love depends on relationship, and this, in His case, is absolutely unique. What orphan can tell the

full love of childhood, the love of a son to his mother, or of a daughter to her father? What childless heart can tell the full love of fatherhood or motherhood? We cannot tell what our feelings will be until we share them. Our Lord's relation to us is all His own. Of Him who redeemed us from sin and woe by His own blood, who dwells in our heart, and is the life of our life, whose authority over us and whose union with us no imagery will explain, we may well say, "Christ only knows the love of Christ." His love, in all its depth and fulness, is beyond the range of our vision. And yet we may truly regard it as

II. WITHIN THE RANGE OF OUR PRACTICAL APPRECIATION.-We are "to know" this love, and this we can do by fixing our gaze upon that which we can know, and by realizing that His love is deeper and fuller far. These human affections which so gladden our hearts and brighten our lives are not only invaluable for what they are in themselves, but also because they are the reflection, and (in a sense) the revelation of God's love to us all. We know the protecting love of parentage, the uniting love of friendship, the generous love of philanthropy, and we ascribe all these in the highest conceivable degree to our Lord. We know that no mother ever watched over her sick child with such devotion as that with which Christ is shielding and succouring His "little ones in the hour of their trouble and their need; that no father ever guided and trained and corrected his son with half the goodness and the wisdom with which Christ chastens whom He loves, and leads by the right way to the heavenly kingdom. We know that never was human heart bound to another heart in ties so close and tender as is the heart of Christ to His friends who walk with Him and do His will (John xv. 14, 15). We know that the selfsacrificing love with which some have loved their kind is but a faint reflection of the "great love with which He loved us when He desired, when He resolved, when He descended to redeem us. When we know the grace of our Lord as we think how He that was so rich became for us so poor (2 Cor. viii. 9), as we realize the mind that was in Him who made Himself of no reputation, and humbled Himself unto the death of the cross (Phil. ii. 7, 8), as we see Him bearing the burden of our sin, entering into the dark shadow of its awful penalty, taking that bitter cup into His hand, passing through that mysterious agony, heart-broken upon the cross,-it is then and

thus that we comprehend all that can be comprehended here of the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, we know all that can be known on earth of that knowledge-passing love of our Redeemer. Shall all this Divine love be poured out in vain for us? Shall we be guilty of slighting such grace as this?

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER

TRINITY.

SEA AND SOIL; DIVINE PROVIDENCE.

Fear ye not Me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at My presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea . . . . that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; that reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. — JER. v. 22, 24.

By the mouth of His prophet, Jeremiah, God upbraids His people for their impiety; but it is worthy of notice that He reproaches them not for their forgetfulness of His miraculous deliverances, but for their heedlessness of His regular, His constant kindness to them. It is not that they are neglecting Him who saved them from the wrath of the Egyptians by the marvels of the Red Sea passage, or who fed them in the wilderness with the manna; it is that they are failing to honour Him who has always been keeping the sea in its bed, and has for generation after generation made the harvest to ripen in their fields. The text reminds us of

I. GOD'S CONSTANT KINDNESS TO US. The prophet gives us illustrations, drawn from the sea and from the soil, of Divine goodness in two forms-1. In keeping in check the destructive forces upon the earth (ver. 22). The sea at rest, kept within its bounds, is an object of surpassing beauty; its voice is music of which we never tire; its surface is the great highway of the nations. But when it breaks its bounds, it causes terrible destruction. If it were to be let loose upon the land it would carry with it utter and overwhelming ruin. But a mighty Hand holds it in check, has placed a bar upon its course; a sovereign Voice is ever saying, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further" (Job xxxviii. 11). As with the sea, so with the air. The pure air we breathe is life itself; the soft breeze is refreshment and invigoration; the wind aids us in our industries and carries our ships across the water. But the cyclone, the hurricane, is danger, destruction, death. The occasional storm reminds us of the con

tinuance from week to week of that balance in the atmospheric forces which the wisdom and the power of God sustain, and which makes possible and practicable our pleasant lives. This also holds with the interior of the earth. Beneath a thin crust of rock are stored and hidden great central fires. What if they were loosened! The earthquake and the volcano are the reminders that there are forces beneath our feet and of which we have no control whatever; but a mightier hand than ours has shut them in, and keeps us in safety and in peace. These are seen and known forces; are there not others unseen and unknown, or just beginning to be recognized, which our gracious God is holding in check, and has been constantly controlling through all generations? 2. In putting into exercise productive powers (ver. 24). God has been fulfilling His promise, and neither seedtime nor harvest has failed from the earth. He has been giving to us seed and soil, sunshine and rain, frost and wind, in their turn and in their time; and year after year, for many centuries and beneath many skies, the appointed weeks of harvest have arrived. There have come droughts and storms: our trust and our patience have been tried; our intellectual resources have been developed, and our character has been disciplined thereby ; adverse material conditions have been strengthening and quickening our manhood; the culture of the field has been the culture of the race; the method of God's giving has greatly enhanced the value of His gift. Divine wisdom has accompanied Divine bounty at every step. What then, we ask, has been

II. OUR HUMAN RESPONSE? Too often it has been-1. That which is our reproach. Men have taken everything from the God of their life, and they have (1) denied His existence; or (2) questioned His interest in His children's well-being; or (3) practically disregarded the operation of His hand, and rendered Him no thanks; or (4) contented themselves with bare formalities from which all genuine feeling has been left out. But Prophet and Psalmist and Apostle invite us to a response--2. Which is becoming and acceptable. (1) Reverence. "Fear ye not Me?" Have we no adoration for this Lord of all power and of all wisdom, who keeps the sea in its place and who covers the barren soil with a golden harvest? (2) Gratitude. Shall we not "bless the Lord," who "filleth our mouth

with good things"? Shall not His praise be continually in our mouth? Shall not the satisfying and sustaining grain and the delicious and refreshing fruit call forth thanksgiving to the kind and generous Giver of all? (3) Service. He who gives us the bread which nourishes our body has placed us under a far greater obligation in that He has given us the Bread of Life. Eating of the one, we live a lower life for "a few more years"; but partaking of the other, we live the larger and higher life for evermore (see John vi. 58). Who would not fear Him? Who would not serve Him? Unto the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto Him who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, unto that Divine One who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us by His own blood, and make us heirs of eternal life-unto Him belong trust and love and loyal service through all our days.

I. THE LIFE-WORK BEFORE US. What are we here to do? What is our life intended to be? What is the most we can make of it? We answer-1. Not to enjoy.

"Not enjoyment and not sorrow Is our destined end or way." The main purpose of our life is not, as so many seem to think, either sensuous, or social, or literary gratification. 2. Not to secure. Against the judgment, or (at any rate) the habit, of a large proportion of mankind, we affirm that we were not born to acquire wealth, or fame, or power. That this is the truth appears when we consider(1) That the multitudes of mankind cannot possibly attain to such possession; (2) That the experience of the few who succeed proves that acquisition does not satisfy the heart; (3) That in what we feel to be our higher and truer mood we aspire to something far nobler than enjoyment or possession. 3. Not,

full love of childhood, the love of a son to his mother, or of a daughter to her father? What childless heart can tell the full love of fatherhood or motherhood? We cannot tell what our feelings will be until we share them. Our Lord's relation to us is all His own. Of Him who redeemed us from sin and woe by His own blood, who dwells in our heart, and is the life of our life, whose authority over us and whose union with us no imagery will explain, we may well say, "Christ only knows the love of Christ." His love, in all its depth and fulness, is beyond the range of our vision. And yet we may truly regard it as

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II. WITHIN THE RANGE OF OUR PRACTICAL APPRECIATION.-We are to know" this love, and this we can do by fixing our gaze upon that which we can know, and by realizing that His love is deeper and fuller far. These human affections which so gladden our hearts and brighten our lives are not only invaluable for what they are in themselves, but also because they are the reflection, and (in a sense) the revelation of God's love to us all. We know the protecting love of parentage, the uniting love of friendship, the generous love of philanthropy, and we ascribe all these in the highest conceivable degree to our Lord. We know that no mother ever watched over her sick child with such devotion as that with which Christ is shielding and succouring His "little ones" in the hour of their trouble and their need; that no father ever guided and trained and corrected his son with half the goodness and the wisdom with which Christ chastens whom He loves, and leads by the right way to the heavenly kingdom. We know that never was human heart bound to another heart in ties so close and tender as is the heart of Christ to His friends who walk with Him and do His will (John xv. 14, 15). We know that the selfsacrificing love with which some have loved their kind is but a faint reflection of the "great love with which He loved us" when He desired, when He resolved, when He descended to redeem us. When we know the grace of our Lord as we think how He that was so rich became for us so poor (2 Cor. viii. 9), as we realize the mind that was in Him who made Himself of no reputation, and humbled Himself unto the death of the cross (Phil. ii. 7, 8), as we see Him bearing the burden of our sin, entering into the dark shadow of its awful penalty, taking that bitter cup into His hand, passing through that mysterious agony, heart-broken upon the cross,—it is then and

thus that we comprehend all that can be cworkman, the fruit prehended here of the breadth, and length, al all testing fires depth, and height, we know all that can be. The selfknown on earth of that knowledge-passing may indeed love of our Redeemer. Shall all this Divine ing love be poured out in vain for us? Shall we Canons be guilty of slighting such grace as this?

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER

TRINITY.

SEA AND SOIL; DIVINE PROVIDENCE.

Fear ye not Me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at My presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea. . . . that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; that reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. — JER.

v. 22, 24.

By the mouth of His prophet, Jeremiah, God upbraids His people for their impiety; but it is worthy of notice that He reproaches them not for their forgetfulness of His miraculous deliverances, but for their heedlessness of His regular, His constant kindness to them. It is not that they are neglecting Him who saved them from the wrath of the Egyptians by the marvels of the Red Sea passage, or who fed them in the wilderness with the manna; it is that they are failing to honour Him who has always been keeping the sea in its bed, and has for generation after generation made the harvest to ripen in their fields. The text reminds us of

I. GOD'S CONSTANT KINDNESS TO US. The prophet gives us illustrations, drawn from the sea and from the soil, of Divine goodness in two forms-1. In keeping in check the destructive forces upon the earth (ver. 22). The sea at rest, kept within its bounds, is an object of surpassing beauty; its voice is music of which we never tire; its surface is the great highway of the nations. But when it breaks its bounds, it causes terrible destruction. If it were to be let loose upon the land it would carry with it utter and overwhelming ruin. But a mighty Hand holds it in check, has placed a bar upon its course; a. sovereign Voice is ever saying, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further" (Job xxxviii. 11). As with the sea, so with the air. The pure air we breathe is life itself; the soft breeze is refreshment and invigoration; the wind aids us in our industries and carries our ships across the water. But the cyclone, the hurricane, is danger, destruction, death. The occasional storm reminds us of the con

what

as

ours we look up and see that morning star in he sky, and we suffer or we labour on chose that watch for the morning." The hope sy of triumph, the hope of rest and of reward re-animates our spirit and strengthens our failing hand. But it is hope "in our Lord Jesus Christ." It is because we have-(1) His word of promise on which to lean; (2) His near presence to realize in our hearts; (3) the offered indwelling of His Spirit to kindle and sustain us, that we can hope with a conquering assurance. With that the "patience of hope" bears us through and takes to our goal.

NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER

TRINITY.

THE LORD OF PEACE HIMSELF.

The Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times in all ways.-2 THESS. iii. 16 (R.V.).

THE frequency with which the word "peace" occurs in the Scriptures suggests that the thought of it was much to the Hebrew mind. It was, as we know, the common Jewish salutation; and, however conventional that must have become, the fact speaks of the importance attached by the people to the thing itself. We account for it thus. The Jews were a devout people; they were well instructed in the home and in " 'the Church" (see Deut. vi. 7, xvii. 9-12, xxxi. 26). The "son of the law" grew up with a deep sense of God in his soul-of His presence, His power, His righteousness; he felt that it was everything to enjoy His favour, or, if he had lost it, to regain it; that it was everything to be at peace with God. Hence, there was nothing he so much desired for himself or wished for his friend and neighbour as peace, and when he met or parted with these he said, "Peace be unto you."

Jesus Christ recognized and used_this_fact. He spake of peace and rest, and offered His disciples "rest unto their souls." "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you," He said. He who had been promised as the "Prince of peace (Isa. ix. 6) came to be "the Lord of peace Himself." He may claim that title as-1. The Lord whose heart was the home of peace; in His spirit was no distraction, because there was perfect consecration and submission. 2. The Lord who loves peace with a strong affection, and hates discord and bitterness of spirit with a perfect

hatred. 3. The Lord who is the Divine source of peace. Jesus Christ gives

I. OUTWARD PEACE. Peace in the home, and in the Church, and in the nation. It is true that the first effect of His teaching is strife. "I came not to send peace, but a sword,” &c. (Matt. x. 34). But this is neither the proper nor the intended consequence of Christian doctrine. The teaching of Christian truth is not the cause but the occasion of strife. The cause of it is found in human prejudices, passions, self-interests in those things which Christ comes to subdue or to destroy. It is true, also, that there have been sad dissensions and shameful cruelties, and that there is still much bitterness and uncharitableness between sections of the Church. But this is not Christian; it is distinctly and radically unchristian; it is the widest possible departure from the spirit and the will of Christ (see Luke ix. 55; John xiii. 35). It is just as the spirit of Christ fills our mind and as the will of Christ rules our life that kindness, charity, co-operation prevails in the Church, in the home, in the nation, in the world. Far enough do we yet stand from the realization of our Lord's desire, but we are moving in the right direction, and many signs are visible, promising a much more rapid movement in the future toward this most desirable consummation.

II. INWARD PEACE. There are two things which disturb, if they do not destroy, our peace of mind. 1. Consciousness of sin. Here again the first effect of the teaching of Christ is that of agitation and anxiety. For He makes us to know and to feel as, apart from Him, we should not have done, the holiness of God, and our own guilt. He teaches us how great and how sad a thing it is to be condemned by God and to be estranged from Him. Then are we troubled with a most real and profound concern. But the Lord of peace wounds us thus that He may make us whole indeed. He who is the truth is also

our peace. He presents Himself to us as our

Divine Saviour in whom to trust and live. He invites us to go to Him, and find rest in His service (Matt. xi. 28, 29). And gladly accepting Him as our Saviour, and resting in the boundless mercy of God in Him, we receive God's full, immediate forgiveness, are taken up at once into the Divine favour, are included among His reconciled and rejoicing children, and are heirs of eternal life. "Being justified" by faith we have peace with God, through