Twentieth Sunday after Trinity.

"THE WAY."

Learn, John xiv. 3-7. Passages to be referred to,—Isa. xxxv.; John xiv. 1-14; Phil. ii. 1-11; Heb. x.

"O THAT my ways were made so direct that I might keep Thy statutes!" Such was the cry of the Psalmist, and such is the cry of every awakened soul. We want a way of approach to

God, Job xxiii. 3. The way to the tree of life was barred by man's sin, Gen. iii. 24. We want also a way of living to God, Ps. v. 8. The way of uprightness was lost through man's sin, Jer. x. 23. To-day we shall endeavour to see how Jesus satisfies each of these wants, by saying, "I am the Way," John xiv. 6; and we shall find how this view of our Lord may help us in entering into the subject of the collect.

I. Jesus, the way to God. We are taught in the Bible that there is only one way for sinners, Lev. xvii. 11; Ezek. xviii. 4; Heb. ix. 22. For this reason it is so narrow, Matt. vii. 14, while the world, with its many devices, makes a broad road, Ps. xiv. 2, 3; Matt. vii. 13. The law of

The law of

This Jesus

God must be satisfied, Gal. iii. 10. God must be fulfilled, James ii. 10. has been the only man to accomplish, Heb. ii. 14, 16. He has redeemed us from the curse of the law, Gal. iii. 13; Isa. liii. 10. He has fulfilled the law to the very letter, Matt. v. 17, 18, xxvi. 24. Thus He is the only way of salvation, Acts iv. 12. But let us illustrate this from the Jewish dispensation. In the temple a veil (see Exod. xxvi. 31; 2 Chron. iii. 14) separated the place of God's manifestation from the place of worship; there was no way to God (Lev. xvi. 34). But when Jesus took our flesh and died, Heb. x. 19, 20, the veil was rent in twain, Matt. xxvii. 51; the way was open.

II. Jesus, the way of life. We are taught in the Bible that there is only one way for man to live to God, 1 Cor. vii. 19. He must walk in the way of God's commandments, Deut. vi. 25; Ps. ciii. 18. "If thou wouldst enter into life, keep the commandments," said Jesus, Matt. xix. 17. This Jesus has been the only man to accomplish, Eccles. vii. 20; 1 John iii. 5. His life, therefore, stands as the only example of the way to God, 1 Pet. ii. 21, 22. The Christian is called to follow in His steps, 1 John ii. 6; Eph. v. 1, 2. For this we have the Scripture narrative to make plain to us the way that Jesus trod, Rom. xv. 4-6; 1 John v. 13; Rev. xix. 10. For this we have the Holy Spirit given to us to lead us in the steps of Jesus, John xvi. 13, 14; Rom. viii.

9-14. In Jesus the way of God is plain, Matt. xxii. 16. "Thou wilt show me the path of life," Ps. xvi. 11; see 2 Tim. i. 10.

May God thus teach us all to know and to love the Lord Jesus as "the Way," and may David's be the prayer of each soul—“ Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting,” Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24.

Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity.

"THE LIFE."

Learn, 1 John i. 1-4. Passages to be referred to,— Ezek. xviii.; John v.; Phil. iii.

I KNOW few more solemn questions in the Bible than this—" What is your life ?” James iv. 14. Believe me, it is only satisfactorily answered when you can say, with the Apostle Paul, "To me to live is Christ," Phil. i. 21; for Jesus Christ is "the life," 1 John i. 2, v. 20. He said so when His friend had died, John xi. 25. He said so when about to die Himself, John xiv. 6. In each case it was for consolation, John xiv. 1. It is this title of our blessed Lord that I desire to explain to you to-day, and I shall do so by showing three things from the Bible.

I. The believer lives THROUGH Christ. Jesus is his life, Col. iii. 3, 4. In believing in the Saviour, he becomes one with Him, and derives life from Him, Gal. ii. 20. Do you ask how this is? Look at the vine, John xv. 1-8. The sap goes from the stem, and so there are life, and leaves, and fruit in the branches-separation is death, 1 John v. 12. Look at the body,

1 Cor. xii. The head sends nerves to the heart, the heart sends blood to the head: there is life in this union-separation is death, 1 Cor. xii. 21; see Eph. v. 23-32. These are God's pictures to illustrate a great mystery. Spiritual life is only derived from being in union with Christ, Rom. viii. 10, 11; John iii. 36, xiv. 19. Jesus is the Life, 1 Cor. xv. 45.

II. The believer lives FOR Christ. He makes Christ the great aim and end of his life, Gal. vi. 14. Just as the flower lives not for itself, but to adorn and beautify the plant, so the Christian lives to glorify his Master's name, 2 Cor. v. 15; see Rom. xiv. 7, 8. Thus it was with the Apostle Paul: his one desire that Christ should be magnified in him and by him, Phil. i. 20; his one longing that he might apprehend Christ, Phil. iii. 8, 9; his one resolution to live to Christ, Phil. i. 21. As Christ had one object, to glorify God, John xvii. 4-6, so His people have one object, to glorify Christ, Phil. iii. 13, 14; Ps. xxvii. 4. They only desire to live to Him, Rom. xii. 1. Jesus is their life, Rom. xiv. 9.

III. The believer lives AFTER Christ. The life of Christ is to him the pattern of living, 1 Pet. ii. 21. True, he has the example of many saints of God who have lived and died, James v. 10; 1 Thess. ii. 14, but he only follows them as he sees Christ in them, 1 Cor. xi. 1; 1 Thess. i. 6. This is the image to which it is God's purpose that His people shall be conformed, Rom. viii.