Christian service, work in which Christ's principles ought to rule, and his tone and temper prevail." Distasteful some of the work might be, exacting in its demand on their time; but with the kingdom of God in their hearts they would not have said, as so many have done, "I pray Thee, have me excused." All honour to those who have responded to the call. May their number continually increase. I believe it is increasing.

IV. Let me say in conclusion that, if in time past the form of godliness current amongst us has been sometimes credal, sometimes mystical, sometimes ecclesiastical, but too seldom broadly, healthily social, there are signs of better things. The idea of the kingdom of God is gaining ground, though we may not very often hear the phrase. The teaching and the spirit of Christ have entered into the lifeblood of humanity, and go working on outside our churches as well as within them, and the results manifest themselves sometimes where we should least expect them, and in forms not recognized as distinctively Christian. On all sides we find a growing endeavour to redress the wrongs of our modern civilization, and to secure for all men the conditions necessary to a truly human life, a growing horror of war, a growing desire for fellowship between different nations and different churches, a greater willingness to co-operate for noble ends. And in what direction does the rapid spread of Socialism point? Is it simply impatience of authority, or the desire of the "have nots to appropriate the goods of "the haves?" It may be so with some of the rank and file. It is not so with

the best of their leaders. Pecuniarily they have nothing to gain by the change, but they feel that there is something unnatural in the intense individualism of our present system, with its fierce and wasteful competition, in the hopeless condition of the lower tenth, the violent contrast between the enormously rich and the miserably poor. They want to see a free co-operation of all for the good of all. They have visions of a state in which the one inspiring motive shall be the common weal-the one prevailing law-the law of brotherhood. They may be dreamers; their position may be economically unsound; most of them as much overlook the necessity of change in the character of the individual as we have hitherto overlooked the necessity of change in his environment. But, at least, we may recognize as the working of Christ's spirit their repudiation of the notion that each man is to work for himself alone, and their aspiration a community that shall be a true brotherhood. To many of them may certainly be said, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." As followers of Christ we should surely show them some sympathy, even if we are unable to adopt all their conclusions, and avail ourselves of all movements of the time to further our Master's great end. Certain it is that unless we can go beyond the idea of the Church, on the one hand, and the idea of making our own calling and election sure, on the other; unless we can realize that Christ has called us to a wider fellowship than that of any sect or any creed; unless we can recognize, by a sort of free-masonic touch, in every one whose ruling motives are love to God and man, a

fellow-citizen and a brother; and unless our own aim in life is, by all means and everywhere, to make the will of God prevail, and build up humanity into an ordered and harmonious whole, after the pattern showed to us in the Gospel, we come short of what Christ intended when he gave unto us the mystery of the kingdom of God.

VI

TWO KINDS OF BELIEF

"Lord I believe : help thou mine unbelief."-MARK ix. 24.

I Do not propose to dwell minutely on the details of this beautiful narrative-the sharp transition from the glory on the Mount of Transfiguration to the suffering and humiliation below, where the agonized father with his epileptic boy confronts the disciples baffled in their attempt to heal him amidst a motley crowd jeering at their failure. Then the sudden appearance of the Master on the scene, the boy cured, the whole situation changed, father and son going home together, the disciples entering into converse with their Lord, while their opponents, in their turn, stand discomfited.

You know how Raphael, supplemented by one of his scholars, has immortalized the scene in the painting at the Vatican. But I must confine myself to the words of our text, and ask your attention to three points only. The co-existence of belief and unbelief in this father's breast; his cry for help against his unbelief; and Christ's response to it.

I. Belief and unbelief would seem to be mutually exclusive, so that where one is the other cannot be. Yet this father says, "I believe, help Thou mine unbelief." Yes, and the latter part of this cry

witnesses to the sincerity of the former. He had not cried "Help Thou mine unbelief" unless he had to some extent believed in Jesus Christ. That appeal to Christ's power evinced the man's faith. It is not the hearts that never cry "Help Thou mine unbelief" that believe most truly and deeply. "Lord, I believe," is the ready utterance of many whose faith has never been put to the test. Had the question, "Do you believe in the power of Jesus of Nazareth?” been put to the bystanders on the occasion before us, some of them doubtless, who had witnessed other miracles, would have answered quite readily, "Yes, we believe," without any such qualifying addition as this father makes. Why? Because their faith was not under test: there was nothing dependent on it. This father was told by Christ that his son's cure depended on his faith. He saw his boy's health, and life perhaps, trembling in that balance-" if thou canst believe"; and immediately he became aware how weak his faith was. If you would know the strength of your faith, put it to do something.

We get here the explanation of a fact that has often puzzled us, viz., that the men of strongest faith have not unfrequently been the men who lamented most over their unbelief. Take by way of example, Oliver Cromwell and John Wesley, look at their lives and you see faith conspicuous in every part-great things undertaken and accomplished, great trials cheerfully borne, difficulties of all kinds overcome-faith triumphant! Turn to their letters and their diaries and you find them crying out over their heart of unbelief. The explanation is here. They put their faith to do so much more than the average believer.