:

hermit, not an austere man like John the Baptist, and they say, "Behold a man gluttonous, and a wine bibber." "But," our Lord adds, "Wisdom is justified of her children :"3 as if He had said, "John the Baptist had his mission, and he fulfilled it. He came to prepare the way, and he has prepared it-by turning some hearts to obedience, by leading some minds to the truth. Though his coming were strange, and his aid apparent weakness, yet his work abides he is no reed shaken with the wind, and he has more glorious garments than soft raiment, and purple; he is a prophet and more than a prophet, for He is an instrument in the Hand of God to prepare My way. And I, too, am the Child of Wisdom, nay, Wisdom's self: for before the foundation of the world He begat Me, and from everlasting I am in His bosom, His Word, and Wisdom, and Power, and Image, and the Brightness of His Glory: and My work is proceeding, though ye despise Me; nay, by despising and rejecting Me, ye accomplish My work. For in Me is fulfilled that saying, 'I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of the people there was none with Me.... and I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold; therefore Mine own arm brought salvation unto Me, and My fury it upheld Me."" 4 Thus Wisdom is justified of her children, because her designs are accomplished by their doings, how feeble soever they may appear, and in the end their cause shall prosper, and they shall triumph. "The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the * Isaiah, lxiii. 3, 5.

3 St. Matt. xi. 18, 19.

5

vengeance," not at the misery of the wicked, but at the folly of their wisdom, "He shall wash His footsteps in the blood of the ungodly:" displaying before all by their punishment the straightforward simplicity of his path, which was lighted up for him by Divine love, and along which he was guided by unerring Wisdom.

His way, who saved us, was most mysterious. He came in "great humility," and He chose the awful path of suffering by which to advance to glory. He passed through the gate of the grave, and along the hidden ways of death in His advance to Life. By an unknown pathway, through seas of trouble, and the great waters of affliction, He passed, who wrought the work of our Redemption.

And in like manner He walks now. His kingdom advances. The consummation of all things draws on with silent steps. What marks His advance we do not know. What are the especial signs of His coming, at this present time, perhaps we could not discover if we searched. We might suppose we had found them; and yet the true tokens of His approach lie hidden from us all the while, unnoticed until we hear the Voice from the solitary wilderness-unexpected-apart from the world-austere and solemn, yet most acceptable to those prepared for Him"Behold the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him!" But if some little warning be granted to a favoured few, it will be seen or heard only by the watchful and attentive. The outward aspect of the world will give no token of His coming. Eating and

6

drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, buying and selling, and getting gain, shall all be going on then when He comes, as they are now, and always have been. His chariot wheels give no warning sound as He draws near. No twilight precedes the rising of our Sun of Righteousness. He sends no messenger to say the kingdom is at hand; at least they have no definite message, as that 'He will be here on such a day your time of preparation is so long, and no longer.' Only in general we, His messengers, say 'He is coming. He will soon be here. He bids you watch; be always ready, for ye know not when the Master of the house shall come. He is at the door. He will knock when it pleases Him. "Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching." Surely, then, dear brethren, the secretness of our Lord's coming-the awful mysteriousness of His ways ought, at least, to keep us watchful, sober, frequent in prayers, as He bids us be. If we would meet Him in peace, we must endeavour so far to free ourselves from this world, and so far to live with Him by self-denial, and meditation, and worship; drawing near to Him in that holiest and most solemn act of worship, the Holy Communion; that we may be prepared to go in with Him to the wedding feast above when He shall call us.

But there are other marks of His mysterious ways, more particularly connected with ourselves and our own course, on which it may be good for us to dwell. Hitherto I have spoken of the mystery of His ways in themselves; in His first coming, and in His second.

Let us now observe some of the tokens of the mystery of His ways with us.

For instance, what can be more mysterious than the influence we have one upon another? How strangely our fates are linked together, for evil and for good! What a mysterious power wicked men have over the young and innocent, to train by example, or even by precept, in the ways of death! But this is a subject too awful to allow of more than an allusion to it in this place, unless we had time to devote entirely to its consideration.

But consider another instance of His inscrutable ways, which is one that occurs constantly. How frequently we see persons, who are apparently endeavouring to do the will of God, grievously tried, and even hindered in the heavenward course by the sin of others. Our Lord foretold that this should be the case: "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." When this happens in the case of neighbours or acquaintances it is very grievous; but still more grievous and more awful it is when even the nearest and dearest relations oppose our progress in the way of life. Yet even this incomprehensible sight is too frequently presented to

us.

Sometimes by the open and dreadful sins of a husband, or a brother, or a child, the heart of the righteous is made sad whom God hath not made sad, and feelings are stirred up, and gain power, and exercise sway, which if they are not sinful, yet affect the conscience as though they were, and leave a sting behind almost like the wound of wilful transgression.

7 St. Matt. xxiv. 12.

I know few things, my brethren, more awful than the exercise of lawful authority and legitimate influence for evil instead of for good. In this world of sin and misery there are few things more terrible than to see the strong, the wise, the learned, misleading the weak, the foolish, the ignorant. It would seem as if the prevalence of powerful wickedness had ever been the greatest trial to the faith of the righteous; and it is so still.

8

What, then, is our remedy, when doubt and perplexity overwhelm us, from such sad reflections? It may seem a strange thing to say, but one of our greatest comforts is our ignorance. At such times of trial to our faith, it is a real stay and consolation to feel and say, "Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known." Our ignorance, I say, is our comfort; for we do not know that evil is finally the gainer by this state of things. Did we know that wickedness was, indeed, the gainer in the end by all the apparent triumphs of wicked men, we should be most miserable. But as we are constituted, we only know that wickedness frequently seems to triumph, and the good to fail before the evil; but what far greater good Almighty God is working out by this seeming success of evil, we do not know. No man can say unto Him, "What doest Thou ?” 9

And yet, in looking back, we may sometimes trace wisdom, mercy, and goodness, in those very dealings which, at the time, seemed most inexplicable; just as in watching a vessel at sea, an inexperienced eye 8 Vide Psalm xxxvii. 1, &c., and lxxiii. 2–5, 12–15. 9 Job, ix. 12.