which follow acquire their full force. And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.'

Had there been the least exemption from the Law claimed for Jesus, the old doctor of the Law would not have seen in Him the Christ for whom he had been waiting. He had been longing for one who should Himself obey the Law, and enable all who honoured it to obey it. The King who should keep the Law in its spirit-the King who should impart a Spirit to His subjects that they might keep it-the King who should be shewn not to be only the King of Israel but the King of men-this was He whom the heart of Simeon had recognised while reading the Prophets; this was He whom he had learnt must come in great humility, if He was to be the consolation of all who were suffering and hoping.

The Nunc Dimittis, like the Song of Zacharias and the Song of Mary, has become a part of our worship. We hear it and join in it without much recollection of the occasion upon which it was spoken. But that

D

occasion gives it all its force as a living commentary on the New Testament; that makes it so beautiful and calm a vesper hymn. It is this occasion which teaches us how the Lord's Christ is manifested to any human being; how only an inward illumination can make the sacred letters intelligible even to those who study them most faithfully. It tells us that all Law and Prophecy are nothing till a Person is seen through them, till the shout of a king is heard amidst the thunders of Sinai, and the low wailings of the seer. It tells us how impossible it was that those thunders should really be recognised as the voice of the Lord God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and of great mercy, till He was revealed in One who delighted to do the Will of God; how impossible it was that those prophetical wailings could be satisfied till one appeared who was the Light of the Gentiles as well as the Glory of Israel. Hard it was for an old Hillel doctor not to think that the glory of Israel must involve the darkness and downfall of the Gentiles. Through this infant the truth flashed upon him that there must be a reconciliation of both; that He was the Reconciler. He would accomplish the meaning of circumcision. He would bestow that purification which the Jew and the Gentile needed equally, by which both might rise to be men. At the same time there is in all prophecy a bitter mixed with the sweet, a sorrow which the joy cannot quench. Simeon has known too much of himself, too much of his countrymen, not to perceive that one who should work out the Redemption he looked for would stir the heart of the nation to its depths, would bring out all its fierceness and evil as well as its good. 'Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken

against.' And then turning to the mother, who is musing on these sayings, he says, 'Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.' Wonderful words, deeper than he could fathom even when his inspiration was fullest and brightest; deeper than we can fathom; words which fulfilled themselves in that day and have been fulfilling themselves in every day since.

The figure of the widow of fourscore years who departed not from the Temple, but served God with fasting and prayer day and night, as she comes at that moment and gives thanks, completes the picture of the circumcision, and combines-as in the Church they always have been and always must be combined—the man and the woman in the same retrospection and the same hope.

III. I can say nothing to you on the third subject -the appearance of the boy of twelve years old in the Temple-which has not been said with a life and power that no words save those of Scripture can reach, in a picture with which most of you will be familiar. The blessing of such earnest studies is that they bring a person before us, and remind us that it is with Christ as a Person, not with any discourses concerning Him, that we have to do. The Artist, too, has felt the transition from the old world to the new, to which the Evangelist points so often. Behind that house made with hands, one is coming forth which is eternal in the heavens; a Father's House in the fullest sense. Behind the weary interpreters of the Law is coming forth that Interpreter who is as yet only hearing and asking questions, but such questions as reveal to those who tried to answer them, secrets in themselves and

in the Divine mind which they had only dreamed of, or never dreamed of before. He is still the boy; not restless in that state, not grasping at any of the rights and faculties of manhood; but on His gaze an abyss of light is opening, and He makes even those around Him feel a little of the awe which possesses Him. He is the boy ready to obey those who are set over Him upon earth, but who must be ever in communion with a Father, different from any parent who asserts a claim over Him below.

There the story closes. When it opens again it is to tell us how that Father was preparing men for the manifestation of His Son; how He did declare Him by this name. I shall not anticipate that great subject. I only desire to remind you that till this veil is withdrawn, till the voice is heard in the Baptism, we are only in the vestibule of the Temple. How grand the vestibule is, how suitable it is to that which lies beyond it, I have wished to shew you. But the Annunciation, with all its awe and its tenderness, the songs of Mary and Zacharias and Simeon, though they have wrought themselves into the life of the wisest and the humblest people on the earth for 1800 years, even the birth in the manger, even the songs of the angels, even the looks and the questionings of the Divine boy among the doctors, are but the preludes to the Gospel of the Son in whom the Father was well pleased, to His baptism with the Spirit and with fire.

LECTURE IV.

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AT HAND.

And as the people were in expectation, and all men mrsed in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not; John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.—ST. LUKE iii. 15, 16.

In the homage of the infant John to the infant Jesus, painters have striven to express the contrast between them. The Evangelists present this contrast to us quite differently. St. Luke indicated it in his narrative of the two births; the full declaration of it is in the words I have just read to you. They correspond almost literally with some which you will find in the third chapter of St. Matthew. They are in substance adapted by St. Mark in his opening chapter. I do not complain of the painters for departing from the text of Scripture, and adopting traditions which had become part of the oral teaching of Christendom. Every great picture has helped to elevate these traditions, to bring out their moral significance, to suggest the study of the books which have been darkened by them. Other influences have been, and are more pernicious, than any which have proceeded from artists; but their works, especially when