bound up with the last transactions in the life of Jesus by such strict ties, that if we reject it as imaginary the whole edifice, so solid, of the last weeks of the life of Jesus, is crushed by the same blow.

It can be shown that, in this third period, Jesus is unfolding as pure a morality as in the first. Matthew, who reports the discourses so faithfully, represents him as at this time summing up the law in love, in love to God and love to man (chap. xxii. 37-40). It is clear that he is developing the plan of his work which had been all along before his mind. He is still contemplating the establishment of a kingdom, and the very same kingdom. This is brought out in the parable reported by Matthew (xxv. 14-30), in which the master distributes talents among his servants, and departs with the assurance that he will return. The new kingdom is to be established in consequence of the death of the Son (Mat. xxi. 33; Mark xii. 1-12). He had been announcing his death for a considerable time (Mark ix. 31), "For he taught his disciples and said unto them, The Son of Man is delivered into the hands. of men, and they shall kill him, and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day." He brings out clearly that it is through his death that life is to be imparted to the church (John xii. 24): "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." The death is an atonement for sin, for when he takes the cup he says (Mat. xxvi, 28): "For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the

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remission of sins." He gives instructions as to the discipline, communion, and prayer to be instituted and kept up in the church when he should have departed (Mat. xviii. 20): "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." It is clear that it is the same kingdom which was to be entered by repentance and regeneration that is to be continued by worship and holy fellowship.

It may be allowed that Jesus becomes more faithful in his warnings, first to the Galileans, and then to the Jews at Jerusalem, as he draws near the close of his pilgrimage. But there is no trace of bitterness or disappointment. The darkness, no doubt, is becoming denser; but the eclipse had begun at the commencement of his atoning work: we see it in the temptation immediately following the baptism. And he continues as loving, as tender, as full of sympathy, as he ever was. Nay, have we not all felt as if the prospect of his death and of his parting with his disciples imparted an additional pathos to these heart utterances of our Lord? That sun looks larger, and glows upon us with a greater splendor as he sets. The plant sends forth a greater richness of odor by being crushed. The fragrance is poured forth in richer effusion from the alabaster box when it is broken. Certain it is, that some of the tenderest incidents in our Lord's life occur towards its close. It was at the period when he is supposed to have been soured; it was when he had left Galilee for the last time, and was setting his face steadfastly towards Jeru

salem, — that he rebuked the disciples, when they were for calling down fire from heaven (Luke ix. 55). It was at this time that he took little children. in his arms, when the disciples would have driven them away, saying, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven" (Mat. xix. 14). It was in one of his last visits to Jerusalem that he looked so complacently upon the poor widow casting her mite into the treasury (Mark xii. 42). It was as he hung upon the cross that, turning to Mary, he said, "Woman, behold thy son;" and, turning to John, he said, "Behold thy mother." I know that our critic has cast doubts on this incident, but very fruitlessly. A great living historian has argued that certain letters must be genuine; for, on the supposition that they are fictitious, they must have been written by a Shakspeare. The argument is not altogether conclusive, for they might have been written by one with a genius like that of our great poet. Now we here argue in the same way: but our argument is conclusive, for none but the highest poet could have conceived such an incident; and the evangelists, however highly elevated spiritually, had not the skill of our unmatched dramatist. The same may be said of the comfortable assurances given by our Lord to the thief on the cross, "To-day thou shalt be with me in Paradise;" and of his dying prayer, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." This petition, and the confiding expression, "Into thy hands I commend my spirit," were the fitting close of a life devoted to the redemption of man and the manifestation of the Divine glory.

UNITY OF OUR LORD'S LIFE, IN THE ACCOUNTS GIVEN OF

HIM, - IN HIS METHOD OF TEACHING, IN HIS PERSON, - AND IN HIS WORK.

IN this Lecture I am to show that the life, the

character, and mission of our Lord are one in idea, in purpose, in accomplishment, and result. In doing this I have two ends in view. One is to furnish evidence of the genuineness of the whole. M. Renan argues that we have the Sermon on the Mount and the Parables very much as Jesus delivered them; for the evangelists were incapable of conceiving them, and if they had attempted to add or to alter they would have spoiled them. It is the same with our Lord's life. It is a conception which no Galilean, Jew, Greek, Oriental, or Roman could have formed, and which could not have grown into such beauty and consistency out of popular tradition. Another purpose may also be accomplished; and that is, to show that in accepting Christ's life we must accept it entire, doctrine, miracles, and precepts. Our Lord's life is woven throughout and without seam, and cannot be divided: we must either take all or get none.

(1) We have four Gospels, and yet the account

which they give is one.

There is a beautiful unity and consistency in the character and acts of our Lord as exhibited by the whole four.

But then it is said that there are discrepancies and contradictions in their narratives when compared one with another. And there certainly is not in these biographies that labored consistency which we always find in a trumped-up story, and which so prejudices all who are in the way of shrewdly estimating testimony. The writers are artless in every thing; but they are specially so in this, that, conscious of speaking the truth, they are not careful to reconcile what they say in one place with what they or others may say in another place. I admit that we have such differences as are always to be found in the reports of independent witnesses; but I deny that there are contradictions. Commentators may differ, and are at liberty to do so, as to the explanations which they offer of the apparent discrepancies. All meanwhile may agree in declaring that the difficulties arise solely from our not knowing more than the evangelists have told us, and that they would vanish if we knew all the circumstances. To illustrate what I mean in a very familiar way: One day, when passing along the streets of the city in which I lived at the time, I saw that there was a house on fire about half a mile off; and as I happened to have an official interest in a dwelling in that quarter, used for a philanthropic purpose, I proceeded towards the spot. Meeting a person who seemed to be coming from the fire, I