Oh, higher yet his star shall rise; While wise men mock, and babes are wise, III. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. As the light of the bright morning broke over the hills of Judea, a great multitude was seen hastening up the sides of the mountain. All the night long the Son of Man had been on this mountain alone. What prayers he offered, what desires he expressed, what visions he saw, we may never know in this world. But early the crowds have gathered that they may hear him speak. They have heard that no human tongue ever uttered notes so sweet, that no human voice ever thrilled the heart with such power, leaving its echo in the soul, like some sweet music that seems to hover over the harp that first created the melody, and their hearts whisper that he may be the long-promised Messiah. Near, and around him stand the many who call themselves his scholars. These he calls to him, and from them selects twelve by name. The multitude wonder. Are these the twelve who are to be generals in his army, marshals in his empire, as he leads out the hosts of Israel to their deliverance? Are these to be his staff officers in that mighty struggle, in under which the embattled hosts shall muster to war! What a call to arms, to blood, to death and glory, will now be heard! which he will throw off the galling, Roman show himself a king, and to lift up the banner yoke, and make his country free? Hark! He is now about to speak, to instruct them, unfolding his plans for raising, supporting, and disciplining his army, and of restoring Israel to the glory of Solomon! Hark! He is now to In utter amazement the crowds see him sit down on a piece of rock. No sword, spear, trumpet, or banner, is seen! He calls around him his selected ones, instructs them, prepares them to go out in his name among men. How strange the instructions, in manner, in spirit, and in their power! The voice, though low and soft, reaches every ear. His countenance is meek and lowly, yet he speaks with a power never known before. Instead of exciting the Jewish war-spirit, his very first words, if obeyed, would banish war from the earth. The characters which men despise, he exalts and pronounces blessed. The exterior, at Old which they looked, was nothing to him. The heart was the man; the thoughts were the character; the feelings were the deed. prejudices, traditions, notions, and practices, he threw away as worthless and injurious. Formality, hypocrisy, and pretence, he detected and denounced. Quoting no traditions, appealing not to antiquity, asking no authority, he threw away long-established notions and usages, and exposed the deep principles of human action, as if he alone in all creation spoke with the voice of authority and truth. consequence for the new prophet of Nazareth | preacher of that gospel to the end of the world. to send out a few illiterate men as heralds of his kingdom. Without education, wealth, genius, the patronage of the rich, or any thing by which they might hope to attract attention. They surrounded their teacher, and were told to go out in his name, and under his sole authority! How eagerly Peter, ardent and headstrong, listened! How timidly did lovely John receive the command! How strong arose the hope in the bosom of the traitor, that he would now have the opportunity to fill his purse! They thought that it was a commission to them to go out and preach the gospel: we see that it embraced the commission of every faithful They thought Judea and its environs would form the boundaries of their labours; they little knew that on continents then undiscovered, and in languages then uncreated, magnificent churches would bear their names, and they would be invoked as the guardian saints! But those brief instructions form all the commission Christ's servants can ever claim. It was like stamping. laws on light and on water, so that the creation of the first rainbow created every rainbow that shall ever hang on the dark clouds. The engineer seems to do but little as he marks out a track, and sets up here and there a stake, but in reality, he is deciding where the multitudes, 10 who shall daily pass over that road, shall go. It thrill at his will; Music may touch her lyre, Thee and thy friends; no room for thee; The sinner's friend thou mayst not see;- The sick before the Lord to lay. See! through the throng their way they bend, |