pel, it is grace; in the Christian life, it is God-life in God through Christ. And to him whose mind is turned to the one thing in the lower sphere of life, it becomes unawares the symbol of the one thing in the higher; and thus he goes ever deeper through the harmonious centres of life, till he has found all in Him who is eternally one, his God and Saviour. He, therefore, who has caught a sight of the point of prime necessity in life, and lives for it, lives for the point of unity, and presses forward to his true unity in its deepest depth. By this means he not only attains to the festive celebration of life, but also to power over its multiplicity and diversity, so that life assumes for him the form of a pure development and manifestation of his unity, in a beautiful and harmonious fulness of existence. But he who, from the first, troubles himself about many things, without necessity, loses, with the one, also the many. Whilst Mary returns more and more from the outward to the inward, whilst, through her devotion to the one duty of receiving the divine guest with a spiritual ear, she comes to the highest of all one things'-peace with God; Martha is in danger of deviating ever farther from the inward to that which is merely outward. And whilst the needful labour of the former becomes a festive celebration, which turns want aside; the superfluous care of the other, about the festivity, becomes ever the more a dangerous labour and indigence of heart—and her many things threaten to resolve themselves into a repulsive jumble, which burdens the soul, and turns it into a chaos.

The service of Martha, however, has also its relative warrant, so long as it remains in inward harmony with the service rendered by Mary. But it is a proof that the entanglement of Martha in her many things has begun, when, as a disturbing influence, it troubles the transparent atmosphere of the soul of Mary.

That Martha complains of Mary to the same Lord at whose feet she has set herself down-this is at once an old and a new history. But there remains to Mary the witness of her Lord, that she has chosen the best part, whose possession has the peculiarity that it shall not again be taken away from him who has it.

With the care for the one thing which is needful, the pilgrimage into the kingdom of God is begun.

VOL. VI.

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2. Prayer.

(Chap. xi. 1-13.)

This pilgrimage, or spiritual journey, which has turned itself towards the kingdom of God, first assumes the form of prayer.

It happened, as Jesus found Himself in a certain place that He prayed. When He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.' And He said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; as we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'

This instruction in prayer was confirmed by the Lord in a parable, found only in Luke, in which He depicts the efficacy of prayer in the strongest colours:

'Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves: for a friend of mine is come to me from his journey, and I have nothing to set before him? And the other from within shall say unto him, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you,' continues the Lord, 'Though he will not rise and give him-gradually raising himself-because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will start up-suddenly rise— and give him as many as he needeth.

'And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.' To this succeeds another parable: If a son shall ask bread of any of you, being his father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion?" (The son becomes ever more confident in his petitions. At first he asks for bread, then for a fish, and finally for an egg-and the father grants him his requests. Dreadful were the thought, that the father, instead of the thing asked for, should sarcastically offer him

deceptive imitations of the good gifts-things which are useless, or even things which are noxious and poisonous.) If ye then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?'

From what has been said, it now follows, that those petitioners who, in spiritual things, obtain nothing but stones, serpents, and scorpions, the proper symbols of the desert and of barrenness, which injure both themselves and others, are not true petitioners, but only pray in appearance, their heart not being turned to God.

But to true prayer belongs the spirit of truth, which hears and retains the word of God, and the spirit of simplicity, which makes it to be the light of life.

3. The spirit of truth and the spirit of simplicity.

(Chap. xi. 14-36.)

The Lord cast out a devil who was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered. But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils. And others, tempting Him, sought of Him a sign from heaven.

The Lord answered both these hostile utterances of different

groups of opposers. In the answer which He gave to the one (vers. 17-28), He directed attention to the spirit and sense of truth, by which alone a man is capable of hearing and keeping the word of God; in the answer which He gave to the others (vers. 29-36), He directed attention to the spirit of simplicity, which alone receives the Spirit of God, to make the divine word a source of inward light.

First He answered those who said-who circulated the accusation amongst themselves and amongst the people, without encountering Christ Himself with it-He casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the prince of devils. For He knew well their thoughts—diavonuara, their opinions. Every kingdom,' He said, which is divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against itself falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? And ye

say, that I by Beelzebub cast out devils. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is risen upon you. When the strong man armed keepeth (maintaineth) his palace, his goods are in peace-undisturbed. But when the stronger than he auroû, his master, his superior-shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour, wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.' This the Lord followed up with the watchword: He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth.

He then continued: "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through desert places seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first.'

Thus the Lord showed those enemies who blasphemed His work as satanic, that the spirit of truth (susceptibility) was not in them. And He explained to them how, from this cause, they were not able to receive the kingdom of God and its message; nay, further, how even those among them who had at first received these, partly from the same want, were not able to keep the message in their hearts.

From the one devil which held them in bondage-from demoniacal fetters-He delivered them; but they allowed themselves to be again taken possession of by the seven devils of consummated malice and blasphemy. For the devils cannot well endure the desert wastes to which they belong, so long as they hope to find an accessible habitation in human hearts. They return, therefore; and where they find the house swept and garnished for their reception-satanically adorned by the spirit of falsehood, they enter in, and revel there with hellish power.

A woman's voice, which made itself heard aloud from amongst the crowd, gave the Lord an opportunity to express this leading thought of His address distinctly: 'Blessed is the womb that bare thee,' was the cry, and the paps which thou hast sucked.' The Lord answered, 'Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.'

On this followed the answer to the second hostile utterance of the other group of opposers. The people seemed to wait for it with special eagerness, perhaps because they expected the Lord would grant the request addressed to Him for a sign from heaven, and they crowded around Him more numerously and thickly than before. Then the Lord began to speak, uttering the unexpected words, 'This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given them, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.'

He then held up again to their view the leading thought of this address. What had brought life to those heathens-what had conducted the chosen spirit of the queen of the south from the darkness of a distant land to the light of the theocratic kingdom-what had moved the crowds of Nineve, if less distinguished, yet penitent, to receive the messenger of the theocracy, the messenger of God, from afar-was nothing else than the spirit of simplicity, which, in itself, is susceptibility to light. This susceptibility was wanting to the men of that generation. Therefore also could no sign from heaven be given to them;-at the most, the sign of Jonas, namely, in the sense that the Messiah came to His generation as Jonas came to the Ninevites,a stranger an unknown, poor, and nameless man, accrediting Himself solely by the power of His inward life.' The Lord now explains why they were not able to understand and receive Him. They obscure the inward light with which they have been entrusted, through the want of simplicity. No man,' He says, 'lighteth a candle and putteth it in a secret place or under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light."

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1 The further explanation of this sign in the parallel passage, Matt. xii. 40, belongs perhaps to a subsequent mention of it (possibly Matt. xvi. 4).

2 This is not the only parable of Christ which occurs in different places in a different sense.