did feast in the house of Simon the Pharisee. Life has its compensations and its comforts for all estates. Work means health. Obscurity means freedom. The best pleasures are those that are most widely diffused.

I do not mean to say that Jesus overlooked the bitter hardships of toil under bad masters, under false and cruel and oppressive laws. I do not mean to say that he would not have been full of pity and indignation at the sight of the crushed and crippled state of great multitudes of human beings in our modern cities. But I am sure that he teaches us to believe that the real source of human misery is not in poverty, but in a bad heart; that envy is not a virtue, but a vice; that life is a great gift to all who will receive it cheerfully and contentedly, even in a world where its material things are unevenly distributed; and that the true beatitudes are not monopolies reserved for the few, but blessings within the reach of all, and gloriously independent of all outward contrasts in the lives of men. Indeed it seems as if he would go even beyond this, and remind us that some of these blessings could not be ours except in a world of contrast and temporal inequality. Of the eight beatitudes which Jesus pronounced, four at least, the blessing of the

mourners, and of the meek, and of the merciful, and of the peace-makers, imply the existence of differences and degrees among men; and one-the blessing of those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake-is only possible in a world where evil is sometimes actually more powerful and prosperous than good.

I have not been able to find a single word of Christ that looks forward to a time in which there shall be no more inequalities on earth, no more rich and poor, no more masters and servants, no more wise men, and no more babes. But there are many words of his that pierce with mild and gracious light through all these outward distinctions to reveal the truth that this kind of inequality is superficial and illusory, that the babes rejoice in beholding those mysteries which are hidden from the wise and prudent, that servants are often nobler and more free than their masters, that the poor may have treasures laid up in heaven which are beyond all earthly reckoning, and that this is the true wealth which brings contentment and peace.

It is a great mistake to suppose that Jesus preached a gospel which was melancholy and depressing for those who received it in this world. It is a great mistake to suppose that he taught men that they must resign them

selves to earthly misery and make the journey of life as a weary and mournful pilgrimage. He came to cheer and brighten the hearts of all who would accept his guidance and tread the path of virtue with courage and fidelity and hope. He came to give us rest in the midst of toil, and that refreshment which only comes from weariness in a good cause. He came to tell us not to despair of happiness, but to remember that the only way to reach it on earth is to seek first usefulness, first the kingdom of God, and then the other things shall be added. He that loseth his life for Christ's sake shall not lose it but find it,find it in deep inward contentment,

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"And vital feelings of delight,”

which make up the true and incomparable joy of living.

Jesus does not differ from other masters in that he teaches us to scorn earthly felicity. The divine difference is that he teaches us how to attain earthly felicity, under all circumstances, in prosperity and in adversity, in sickness and in health, in solitude and in society, by taking his yoke upon us, and doing the will of God, and so finding rest unto our souls. That

1 St. Matt. 10:39.

is the debt which every child of God owes
not only to God, but also to his own soul,
to find the real joy of living.

"Joy is a duty,'-so with golden lore
The Hebrew rabbis taught in days of yore.

And happy human hearts heard in their speech
Almost the highest wisdom man can reach.

But one bright peak still rises far above,

And there the Master stands whose name is Love,
Saying to those whom heavy tasks employ

"Life is divine when duty is a joy.""

The second point in the teaching of Jesus which is meant to rectify our views of the unevenness of the world, is his doctrine of a future life, not a different life, but the same life moving on under new conditions and to new issues. This world is not all. There is another world, a better age, a more perfect state of being, in which the sorrows and losses of those who now suffer unjustly will be compensated, and in which let us not hesitate to say it as calmly and as firmly as Jesus said it-those who have unjustly and selfishly enjoyed their good things in this world will suffer in their turn. It is the fashion nowadays to sneer at such teaching as this; to call it "other-worldliness"; to declare that it has no real power to strengthen or uplift the hearts of men. Jesus did not think

so. Jesus made much of it. Jesus pressed home upon the hearts of men the consolations and warnings of immortality. He showed the miserable failure of the man who filled his barns and lost his empty soul. He bade his disciples, when they suffered and were persecuted for righteousness' sake, "rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” 2

Let us not impoverish our gospel by flinging away, in our fancied superiority, this precious truth. It is impossible to justify the present fragmentary existence of man if we look at it and speak of it as the whole of his life. Earth has mysteries which naught but heaven can explain. Earth has sorrows which naught but heaven can heal. Yes, and earth has evils, black and secret offences of man against man, false and foul treasons against the love of God, crimes which take a base advantage of his patience and long-suffering and hide themselves like poisonous serpents in the shelter of the very laws which he has made for the good of the world, sins all entangled with the present structure of society and beyond the reach of human law, undiscoverable iniquities, unpardonable and unpunishable cruelties, which naught but hell can disclose and consume. The

1 St. Luke 12: 16-21.

2 St. Matt. 5: 12.