municates intenser happiness, which will dilate the soul with more enduring joy, he will let go gradually the wealth that perishes in his admiration of that which endures; and his avarice for earthly gold will depart before a new thirst for the unsearchable riches of Christ. -Do not put out the poor man's tiny light, unless you can bring near the big, bright sun. Do not take away from him his cup of water, unless you can bring him to the grand fountain. If we drive out of the soul of man the love of literature, of horse-racing, or of card-playing, we merely sweep and empty the house, and seven spirits ten times worse will instantly rush in; but, if we can drive out the evil passions by bringing in the sublime preference, if we can only make pale the earthly joy by the splendor of the heavenly one, we not only expel the evil, but we bring in its place a good worthy of supremacy. Take not his Koran from the Moslem, his Shaster from the Hindoo, his breviary from the priest, unless you can substitute for them that more precious than them all, the word of the living God. It It is of no use to preach against Hindooism in India, unless we are prepared to supply the people with Christianity. is vain to preach against the errors and the superstitions of Rome, unless when we do so we bring into contrast with them, as candidates for hospitality, the richer glories of Christ Jesus. Not extinction of what man has, but exchange for what man loves, is the mission of a Christian minister. It is most important that we should always keep this in view in dealing with the men of this world: they will not cast away what they love, except in exchange for something better; and I justify them so far; I will keep what I have, unless you can convince me that there is something better ready to take its place. Therefore, when asking the young man to give up indulgence, and the old man to resign his avaricious hoardings, knowing that I ask them to do what is painful, I will not be satisfied merely by telling the one to crucify the flesh, and the other to give away his wealth, but I will bring before them "the recompense of the reward," and thus they will give up the taper of a day for the Sun of righteousness, in whose wing is healing. It is thus that Moses felt dislodged the love of the earthly by seeing and feeling approaching the hope and joy of "the recompense of the reward." We learn, in the next place, another important lesson, that the future recompense of reward is very much in the line and direction of present character. In other words, when we shall land in heaven, we shall find it is not introduction into a new course, but the continuation of the course we commenced on earth. Have you, for instance, sent your riches abroad in acts of charity, in deeds of magnanimous beneficence? You will receive in heaven by grace a richer reward, riches that thieves do not break through and steal, and that do not take wings and flee away. Have you resigned honor upon earth for Christ's sake? have you given up the pursuits of literature, in which you might have attained eminence, for the apparently humbler and lowlier services of Christian duty, in which you will meet with reproach? Your name shall be pronounced in heaven; it shall be inscribed upon a pillar from which it shall not be erased. Have you borne patiently, and without murmuring, the afflictions of the world? the cup that your Father has given you to drink, have you patiently drank it? Yours shall be the radiance of immortal youth, joys that are at God's right hand, and pleasures that are for ever and ever. Whilst the mere money-makers, the mere pleasure-hunters, are borne down by a gulf-stream that drives them into an ocean of misery fed from their own souls, and inexhaustible also, you shall move with a Pilot at the helm, and under the impulses of a breath that wafts you onward, till you end your voyage in the haven of everlasting rest. For whatever we have sacrificed upon earth we shall be rewarded in the future in some way proportionate to it, and yet not by merit in any shape, but by grace. In other words, one man shall be fitted for one sphere in heaven, and another for another sphere: our capacities shall vary. The characters and the tastes of men will differ, whilst all may be truly and indeed Christian. In that grand cathedral in which we shall worship there are many chambers, in which different Levites shall serve. One man is fitted for one chamber, another for another, and yet the way into the cathedral itself is Christ himself, "the way, the truth, and the life." There are many parts in the music of that choir in which we shall each take his part, and yet all the parts have one grand keynote, Christ Jesus. There shall be a vast multitude, we are told, there in "the recompense of the reward." There shall be one catholic tongue, and yet there will be many dialects of that tongue, for there are many kindreds, and nations, and tongues. There will be a majestic recompense of reward, the title to which is Christ alone; and yet there will be various pursuits, the vehicles of varying pleasures for the varied tastes of the saved. There shall be many stars, and yet one star shall differ from another star, and one flower from another flower. And thus "the recompense of the reward" may be suited to each taste, and rise to each capacity, whilst the right to enjoy it is by Christ, and by Christ alone. Lastly, we here see, from this statement, that hope as well as faith is part of the great animating motives of Christian progress. Hope is spoken of as "the anchor within the vail," at which we may ride securely. A Christian keeps his eye always on the future, his faith and trust always in the past. He looks to the past for strength and for acceptance; he looks to the future for a joyful and a glorious reward. And so long as a Christian keeps his destiny in his eye as the alone bright and magnificent attraction, so long the inferior things that he meets by the way will appear to him comparatively of little value. A man who has been long in a distant land, and who is hastening as fast as he can to his home, may look upon the spring-flower by the wayside, but he will not sit down beside it to rest. We are going to a bright and everlasting home, and we are so smitten with its magnificence and glory that all present things we feel unworthy to be compared with it. We see, indeed, on all sides around us many a sparkling stream, rolling, it may be, upon golden sands; but every chime of its waves tells us," Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again ;" but we can hear sounding from the olive-shades of Gethsemane, from Bethlehem, from awful Calvary, from the heavenly Jerusalem, from "Jesus the mediator of the new covenant," "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." -- Seeing, then, we look for such things, "be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord;" and, resting upon the Rock of Ages as our only foundation, let us look for the crown of glory as "the recompense of the reward" earned by Christ, bestowed by his hand, and received by grace, the blessing ours, the glory his. The voice of Moses, from the reward in glory he anticipated on earth, comes down in bright waves upon the shores of time. It bids us doubt not, it eloquently urges us to follow. May its echoes deepen within us, and every memory be a whispering-gallery, in which his accents shall not die, and his teachings not cease, till we sing the "song of Moses and the Lamb!" |