MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM

A SERMON

Preached on Sunday Morning, March 20th, 1864

Volume 6 Number 274

Preached on Sunday Morning, March 20th, 1864

By Mister JAMES WELLS

AT THE SURREY TABERNACLE, Borough Road

Volume 6 Number 274

“He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” Matthew 13:11

A MYSTERY is something declared, the meaning of which is not yet revealed; and, therefore, all the time the declaration stands unexplained it is called a mystery. The word mystery does not signify things unknowable, things that cannot be understood, recognized, possessed, and enjoyed; for if we take that view of the word mystery, then our text would not be true. Our text says of the disciples, that it was given to them to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to others it was not given. Hence, when the Savior appeared to John, in the Book of Revelation, with seven stars in his right hand, those seven stars had a mystical meaning; but what that meaning was remained unknown; it was, therefore, a mystery. Presently the Savior opens up the meaning, and he says, “The mystery of the seven stars;” that these seven stars mean the seven angels, or messengers, or ministers of the church. And that representation there appears to be taken from the 5th chapter of Amos, where it, is, said, “Seek him that makes the seven stars.” Seven, stars represent the ministers of the gospel; seven, to indicate the completeness of their ministry; that all God's ministers preach a complete gospel, a complete salvation, an eternally certain salvation; therefore, because of the completeness, they are thus called seven in number to denote their unity of testimony concerning the completeness of the Savior's work, and the final blessedness to be realized by that completeness of the Savior's work. And called stars because they are placed in their sphere by the hand of God, independent of the hand of man, and that they move in their destined orbits, and shine with all the light that they gather from their relative connection with that Sun of Righteousness that shines upon them. Therefore, “Seek him that makes the seven, stars; “seek him,” where perfection shines, “that makes the seven stars.” “And Orion.” Now another scripture says, “Can you bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?” So that, the seven stars represent the ministers of the gospel in their unity of testimony concerning, the perfection of Christ's work, and then Orion represents them as ministers of judgment; testifying that he that believeth not shall be, damned. “Can you lose the bands of Orion?” What these ministers still bind on earth is bound in heaven, and what they ministerially loose on earth is loosed in heaven. This is the twofold position of the minister; he therefore instrumentally sets the one free, and testimonially binds the other. Thus, we get at the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars. Now the mysteries referred to in our text evidently are the parables spoken by the Lord. And if you were to substitute the word parables for the word mysteries, you would find no very great impropriety in so doing. “Unto you it is given to know the parables of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” And I shall show this morning that none but the people of God can by possibility know the parables of the kingdom of heaven. I mean to say that none but the people of God can understand, rightly understand, them; that I hope, as I go along this morning, to prove. So that the Savior here refers, not particularly to the great mystery of the Eternal Three, nor to the mystery of his incarnation, nor to the mystery of Christ in you the hope of glory, but especially to the parables, “because it is given unto you to know the parables of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” Therefore, quite as well to you in parables, and therefore by the very means by which these things are revealed to the one, they are in a sense hidden from the other. Not but the natural man may interpret a parable, and be perfectly right in his theoretical interpretation; but then, to hit upon the right theory, and to hit upon the right part of the scriptures to explain each parable, and explain it theoretically, this is one thing, and another thing to have the experience of it in my own soul; for where the Holy Spirit is the teacher, he gives that kind of knowledge that none others can have.

Our text, you will perceive, divides itself into three parts. Here are, first, the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; here is, secondly, the truth that a knowledge, a saving knowledge, of those mysteries is a divine gift; and here is, thirdly, the truth that a knowledge of these mysteries is discriminating. “Unto you it is given, but to them it is not given.” But I shall not touch this morning either the second or the last of these divisions; my discourse this morning will be entirely upon the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; in other words, upon the parables of the kingdom of heaven. And I certainly this morning must work by time, because we have seven parables before us in this chapter; and if I get through the third, it will be, perhaps, as much as I can do.

Now, then, the first mystery I notice is that of the sower. There is, in the parable of the sower, the good-ground hearer; and the good-ground hearer understands what the stony-ground, wayside, thorny-ground hearer does not understand. Let us see if we can enter into this matter. And I shall have to go to other scriptures as well as to the suggestions given in connection with the parable as to its meaning. First, then, where the Lord intends salvation, he makes that person concerned for his or her soul; and such an one begins to feel, in a way they never did before, that they have a soul, an immortal soul; that there is an eternity to meet. Such an one begins to feel, in a way he never did before, that he is a sinner, a lost sinner; and such an one begins to discover that the compromising's of men are all delusion. I used to say I was not worse than, and in many respects not so bad as, my neighbor, and therefore I hoped that for the little good about me the Lord will pass by the bad, and so the matter will be settled. But such an one now sees that not one sin, in angels or in men, ever did, or ever will, or ever can, escape the wrath of Almighty God. Therefore, if I have but one sin, namely, original sin, and I have lived from my birth up to the present moment pure as an angel, that one original sin which, though not perpetrated by me personally, I am nevertheless federally and naturally involved in, that one sin would subject me to the wrath of Almighty God. Such an one begins to say, If such be the awfulness of my origin, that I am a child of wrath by nature, independent of anything I have done; and if, in addition to this, there is another awful fact, that by my doings I have augmented that wrath ten thousand fold; and if it be a truth that not one sin ever did, or ever can, escape the wrath of Almighty God, then what is to become of me? What, said such a one, is to become of me? He becomes a mourner in Zion; he begins to pray, he begins to seek the Lord, he begins to lament after the Lord; he begins to say, “God be merciful to me a sinner;” he begins to sow in tears. “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.” Presently a little light rises. Ah! what is that light that I see? Is it the morning star? Is it the babe of Bethlehem? Why is he born? Why is he a man of sorrows? Why is he acquainted with grief? Why is he wounded? Why is he bruised? Why is he under such awful chastisement, and why are such stripes laid upon him? Why does he suffer? Why does he groan? Why does he die? What does it all mean? Ah! it means that he died for sin, that he died for souls, that he died for sinners; and there, in his death, every sin there met the wrath of Almighty God, and there the penalty was concentrated, there the penalty was endured; so far so, it took his whole person to endure it. He himself was made a curse, and he has put an end to the curse; it is gone; so that there is no wrath left, there is no curse left, there is no condemnation left, and not even rebuke left; and the people for whom he died, he will present them at the last in all the triumphs of his eternal perfection. Now, when the soul is brought thus far, it looks on Jesus and mourns. I wonder if he died for me? I wonder if my sins were there, when he was nailed to the cursed tree? I wonder if his blood was shed for me? I wonder if he suffered for me? I wonder whether he has put away my sins by the sacrifice of himself? “They shall sow in tears;” here it is; such an one begins to sow in tears, seeks the Lord. He feels it is a life and death matter; he feels that it is both a time and an eternity matter. He sees that all the little teapot sort of storms of life are not worthy to be noticed in comparison of the eternal wrath of Almighty God, and that all the troubles of life are so many passing vapors, in comparison of the damnation of the soul; and he therefore loses sight of the passing clouds, and looks upon the fixed threatening's of the everlasting God; and he says, The great object with me is to escape these threatening's, and to be saved. Now, here is real repentance; here is real seeking after the Lord. “He on the good ground is he that hears the word, and understands it. Ah! said such an one, I never before understood the testimony of what Christ has done as I do now; I never before understood the testimony of his bearing our sins in his own body on the tree as I do now; I never before understood the testimony of his pouring out his soul unto death, as I do now. Ah! I understand the word, it is a word of life, it is a word of forgiveness, it is a word of justification, it is a word of release, a word of support, a word that contains all that I can need for time and for eternity. He understands the word. Get such a one to part with the word if you can. The stony-ground hearer has never been brought into this mystery of soul-trouble; the thorny-ground hearer has never thus mourned after Jesus Christ; the wayside hearer has never felt the weight either of judgment or mercy, But this good-ground hearer has felt the whole, and he solemnly before God mourns after Jesus Christ, and so understands the value of the word, that for ten thousand worlds he would not part therewith. Now, some of you know what this is, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.” Clearer still, if possible; “He that goes forth weeping;” there it is; weeping at the Lord's absence; “When the bridegroom shall be taken from them, then shall they mourn;” weeping over what they are, as daily experience demonstrates. “Bearing precious seed.” What is that precious seed? The word of God, that is the precious seed. It is very important to have the right seed to sow; because, if you expect wheat from barley, or wheat from tares, you will be wrong. If you expect a harvest of wheat you must sow wheat. “What a man sows, that shall he also reap.” “Bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” That is, the truths of the gospel are to be the seed from which you are to expect the harvest; the promises are to be the seed from which you are to expect the harvest; the testimony of God's blessed word is the seed from which you are to expect the harvest. Just hear the apostle upon this, writing to the Colossians; he points out the fruit first, points out the fruit produced in them, and then shows how it was produced. Come, let us see if we bear fruit, for the good-ground hearer, he brings forth fruit with patience, some thirtyfold; some of the people of God have not so much faith, love, and joy, as others; some sixtyfold, some a hundredfold. God is sovereign in dealing with his people in this as well sb in all other respects. The apostle to the Colossians, upon this very point he speaks first of the fruit, and then how it was produced, and gives us to understand the kind of seed from which they expected the fruit. He says, “We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you;” since we saw by your fruits what you were. What were their fruits? “Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus.” That's the place to have faith, in Jesus Christ; that's the place to have confidence; that's the place to rest upon; faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; incarnate God, swallowing up all our sins; gone, gone forever; the blessed God appears the God of harmony and of love, without a spot, or fault, or wrinkle, against us. “And of the love which you have to all the saints;” saints as they stand in Christ; sanctified of God the Father, sanctified by the Savior's blood, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, sanctified by the truth. “For the hope;” come, here is faith in Jesus Christ, such faith that they could not give up Jesus Christ; and here is love to the saints, union of soul to those brought into the same paths; “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and brings forth fruit, as it does also in you.” It has turned you into believers, and so it has others; it has made you love the brethren, and so it has others; it has given you a hope in Christ Jesus, and that hope reaches to heaven, reaches into eternity. No human hope can reach on like that. Your earthly hope does not reach far. If I were to name, which I must not occupy time in doing, I could name very many earthly hopes that reach a very little way. I just name one; for instance, suppose you have a splendid earthly estate; well, you hope you shall live to enjoy it. Well, I hope so too, and I hope you will let others enjoy as much of it as you can spare, too. But still, that hope does not go far, and amazingly uncertain. When you close your eyes to night, you may never open them again in this world. Very uncertain. But the hope laid up for you in heaven, the hope you have by Jesus Christ, reaches to heaven, reaches into eternity, can never be lost until in a perfection of revelation by-and-bye realized. Now notice, here is the faith, and here is the word of the gospel by which they had that faith, and love, and hope; and that this same gospel came unto them, and produced the same effects in all the world where God attended the word with power as it produced in them. “Whereof you heard.” Now notice, what sort of word was it? “And knew the grace of God in truth.” There it is; that you “knew the grace of God in truth,” means that you have known it in reality; you know assuredly, from your own soul's experience, that all is of grace from first to last. To know the grace of God in truth, is to know the grace of God in Christ, for Christ is the truth. To know the grace of God in truth, is to know the grace of God in a sworn, in an immutable covenant. Now, then, “Unto you it is given,” to be let into this secret. There is God's testimony, “They shall come with “weeping,” and if we are strangers to this, we are strangers to the mystery of the kingdom of heaven; “and with supplications will I lead them, even by the rivers of water, in a straight way.” Christ is that straight way, “wherein they shall not stumble.” Now then, “He that goes forth and weeps bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” How shall he bring his sheaves with him? By the grace of God, by the truth of God; that is the seed. Depend upon it, if you have this faith that the Colossian's had, love to the brethren and hope that they had, and you are looking for a happy harvest by the truth of God, you will not be disappointed, no. You are brought to hunger for that finest of the wheat which is by the grace of God; you are brought to hunger for that bread of eternal life which is by the gospel of God, of which if a man eats, he shall live forever. Now here, then, is the man that hears the word and understands it. Yes, such an one says, There was a time when I was careless about my precious soul; but the Lord gave me a conviction of my state, the Lord brought me into the house of mourning, and I became a mourner in Zion. I have indeed sowed in tears; I have indeed gone forth weeping, bearing the precious seed of his word. When I became acquainted with it, it was his promise I carried with me. When the Lord made promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, think you they ever threw that promise away? Never. When the Lord made promise, in dreams and visions, to Joseph, think you that through all the circumstances through which he passed, he ever threw it away until he realized the harvest that arose from it? And so, bless the Lord, we are to expect the harvest, then, from the seed of God's blessed word. “Come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”

There are Christians, or professed Christians, that make a god of experience, and worship experience; and the chief thing that they aim to impress upon our mind in conversation with them is that they are very wonderful people. I am a very wonderful person; there is not another such experience. Oh, I should astonish you if I were to tell you. There is not another such experience under heaven as mine is. Oh, dear! that Wells, he knows nothing at all about it. Why, mine is a wonderful experience. Bless you! you don't know. Oh, unutterable devil-isms I could tell you about. Such things I think nobody ever realized. It has been a wonderful experience. If you could but see what a wonderful man I am, what my experience is, you would stand amazed. And such persons, when they get into a congregation where they cannot get people to worship them, they go off to some little place where there are twenty or thirty people; and so, as Pope somewhere says,

“A judge among fools, but a fool among judges.”

And so are some of these wonderful people. Whenever I meet with a man of that stamp, I know very well that self is his god. Oh, in what a variety of ways you see self. There is Pharisaic self; there is sound doctrine self; there is great experience self; such a variety of ways in which self is set up. But while some thus abuse experience, set it up as a god, make themselves a nuisance to everybody, we must not, on that account, slight real experience, nor overlook real experience. That is the best of all experience that brings us to nothing, and makes the blessed God everything. But that kind of experience that makes you wonderful in your own eyes, makes you desire to make yourself wonderful in other people's eyes, that is a kind of experience that I do not wish to have. Anything that leads me away from the Lord to myself is not acceptable. Nevertheless, we must not make light of experience, any more than we must make light of anything else, because it may be abused in a variety of ways. Now, then, we cannot know this parable of the sower without experience. It is by being brought into this soul-trouble, going forth bearing precious seed, it is in this way that we bring forth the fruit of love and praise unto the Lord our God. Thus, then, this mystery ceases to be a mystery to you in the sense that it once was. It is a mystery now revealed; once it was a mystery unrevealed. What it was to weep after the Lord you knew not; now you do know. What it was to reap in joy you knew not; now you do know. What it was to go forth bearing God's blessed word, as the seed from which you hoped to gather a harvest, you knew not; now you do know. What it was to come again rejoicing from your captivity, and bringing your sheaves with you, rejoicing that Christ is your harvest, he is the substance of all, and that by him you have all that shall supply you for time and eternity, once you did not know, now you do know. Once you did not understand the value of the word, but now you know it. Once you had neither a good nor an honest heart. “He on the good ground is he that in a good and honest heart receives the word.” What is the good heart? The good heart is a believing heart; the good heart is a Christ-loving heart; the good heart is a praying heart; the good heart is a God-fearing heart; the good heart is a decided heart; the man perfect in heart, decided for God, that is the good heart. The honest heart is the man that deals honestly, with his own soul, and earnestly seeks to be established in the truth; and he desires, his solemn prayer before God is, that God in mercy would establish him; because he knows thousands have been deceived, and dreads lest he should fall into the same snare, and therefore seeks the Lord earnestly, that in that respect he may not be deceived. Some of you know not what this weeping after the Lord is; some of you know not the value of the testimony of what Christ has done. Some of you have not a good heart, not a believing heart; you have not a God-fearing heart, you have not a praying heart, you have not a Christ-loving heart, not a decided heart, and consequently not honest; and therefore you know not this mystery, savingly so.

I will now notice another mystery, very much in harmony with this, and that is that of the parable of the kingdom of heaven; the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, of the wheat and the tares. Now the Old Testament will explain this to us. What does it mean? The good seed, in contrast to the tares, are the children of the kingdom. And the first part of the mystery of that mystery of the kingdom is consecration to God; the second is the mercy of God; the third is adoption into God's family; the fourth is confidence in God. The good seed are the children of the kingdom. The last verse of the second chapter of Hosea, “I will sow her;” “For he that sowed them is the Son of man;” good seed, “I will sow her unto me” notice that carefully, “unto me in the earth.” We are all by nature sowed unto the devil, and he reckons us his; and we are devoted to him by nature in some shape or another, some in one form, some in another; for he is the god of this world. But when God takes a sinner out of that state, “I will sow her unto me in the earth.” What earth? New earth. Whereabouts is that new earth? In the death of Christ; “planted together in the likeness of his death.” “Unto me.” Now you begin to look towards God, to lean towards God; now you begin to say, “Above all things, I should like to be a child of God! I should like to be a man of God, a servant of God; I should like to belong to God. Oh, happy people who have the God of Jacob for their help, and whose hope is in the Lord. Happy people, consecrated to God, that is what I should like.” Begin to be decided for God, and lean towards God. “I will sow her unto me in the earth.” Now we know what this is. There was a time when we began to feel this. I look back at the time when I was afraid, I should be some day dreadfully tried in providence, and the feeling struck me, if I should be, I should have no God to look to; and I began to lean towards God in that. Then; after that, came conviction of my state as a sinner, and then I began, to lean towards God, though afraid of him. “I will sow her unto me.”

And now notice the next clause. Here is this man consecrated to God, and Satan comes in, and says, Look at your filthy garments; look at your sins. You consecrated to God! You belong to God! God receive you! You get to heaven! You become a Christian! Why, it is presumptuous of you to think of such a thing. Now notice, “I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy” there it is, “upon her that had not obtained mercy.” That defeats the enemy; that swallows up all your sins; that mercy brings in a Substitute, a Mediator; that mercy brings in everlasting love that mercy puts an end to all that is against you. “I will have mercy.” And so, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan, even the Lord that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” Mercy, then! What kind of mercy is it? Why, it is eternal mercy, from everlasting to everlasting, and it is sure mercy. “I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” What say you to this, my hearer? Do you love that mercy, do you love that testimony? Ah, say you, then I do know this mystery, I do prize the mercy of the Lord, and I bless him that mercy and truth in Christ Jesus are met together, righteousness and peace embrace each other. His mercy multitudinous. This mercy makes me all that justice demands, that the law requires, or that holiness can enjoin. This is understanding this mystery of the kingdom of heaven. You see, of necessity these people are free-grace people; you see that clearly. And what is the next step in this mystery of the kingdom, good seed? “I will say, You are my people.” If I have these two characteristics, first, that I lean towards God; second, if that free, eternal, and ample mercy by Christ Jesus, for according to his mercy has he saved us, and it is through his mercies that we are not consumed, if that be what my soul receives, then the Lord declares I am his; he adopts me into his family; he has predestinated me, or I never should have come into this position; he has predestinated me to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. This, then, is not a mystery to you now; it is to others, but not to you. And then the fourth part of this mystery is confidence in God. “And they shall say, You are my God.” “Shall say.” Ah, say you, that is what I never could say. Why, you are saying it every day. Now the man that knows what this soul-work is, that knows what it is to be a good-ground hearer, that knows what it is to lean toward God, to receive the testimony of his mercy, why, you are calling the Lord yours every day. Why, say you, I never could call him mine yet. Well, let me help you, then, come. Are you not every day saying that you have no hope anywhere but in Jesus Christ, by what he has done? And are you not every day saying, by your words and movements, that if you do not get to heaven by the good pleasure and immutable counsel of a faithful and unchanging God, you can never get there at all, and that that is the gospel that you like, and you do not like any other? Yes, say you, I can go that far. And pray, who brought you that far? Were you always there? No, you were not. So that you are saying the Lord is yours without knowing it, I say, without knowing it. It is true you cannot see it with the faith of assurance; but, as some of the old martyrs said, you can see it with the faith of adherence. Simple and honest, they know their need of these things, that nothing else will do for them; they go on year after year, never see them move from God's truth, and you will never see them any trouble to the minister; they are not gossips, they are not tattlers, not busybodies, not gin-drinkers, no, no; mind their own business in the world, and trouble themselves with nobody, and go on quietly, and the Lord blesses them providentially, sustains them spiritually, just keeps their head above water. He has not given them wings yet to enable them to fly up into the regions of assurance, but he has given them a good firm standing, their heart is fixed. They do not make much noise; but the minister generally sees them, when he comes into the pulpit, with hungry sort of looks, with thirsty sort of looks, with anxious sort of looks. I wonder what the Lord has for us today? I wonder if the Lord in mercy will say a word to us today? I wonder if we shall get a little help today? Ah, those are the people for the minister to preach to, because the Spirit of the Lord is their teacher, and where he is, there is liberty. So then, if you have not the faith of assurance you have the faith of adherence, that nothing else will do, that you are from time to time saying, by your walk and conversation, “This is my God,” and if you cannot have him yon will have none other; you will reject all others, and cleave to him, and say, “If I perish, I will perish here,” where none ever did, or ever can, or ever will, perish. Before I make a few remarks upon the third mystery, let me just appeal to you carefully. Is it not, then, clear that we must be mourners in Zion, in order to know what mourning is? Is it not clear that we must have the knowledge of our need of what Christ has done, in order to understand that word that testifies what he has done, and so understand the word as to feel that while we may part with mortal life, or ten thousand mortal lives, we had better part with all than part with that? Is it not clear that in order to understand the mystery of the good seed, the children of the kingdom, there must be a solemn leaning towards God, that there must be an appreciation of the new covenant mercy of God, and that your confidence must be in God, and you must stand out decided for him? I am aware intellect may acquire all this in the theory of it, but you must know, and I must know, whether it is a matter merely of intellect with us, or whether we have mourned after the Lord in our souls, and whether we do feel that we are poor, sinful, needy creatures, and that our object is to enjoy the Lord's presence, for the Lord to be with us, and to go on with our bodies and souls to glorify him; we must know which of the two is our case.

The third mystery, for I can give, this morning, only a small sample of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, the third, which I make just a remark or two upon, is that of the mustard tree; the mustard seed is a very small seed, becomes the greatest of herbs, yes, becomes a tree, and all fowls of every wing come and lodge in the branches of it. I shall not reach, this morning, the experimental part of that, but must just make a remark or two upon the mustard tree. I think there cannot be any doubt but that the tree means Christ, and the seed being small to denote his small beginning. Where did he begin? I was going to say at zero; he began at no degree. He began with a cipher, and a cipher means nothing. For when the Savior came, not a single thing was done. He found not one sin atoned for; he found not one thread of righteousness brought in; he found not one particle of holiness treasured up to help him; there was none to help him! He began at no degree; he began at nothing. Small beginnings! Read the fifty-third of Isaiah; that will explain in a great measure, with another scripture presently, this mustard tree. The Savior went on, beginning at no degree; there was nothing, and he was nothing when he began; he was nothing, apart from himself considered. He did not come and say, Well, here is the foundation begun, here is something begun; no. He is the Alpha, the beginning. Well, he went on from one degree to another degree, flourished, prospered; first the tender plant, springing out of the dry ground, went on, and flourished, and prospered, until he became what is there indicated, and what is very beautifully set before us in the Old Testament, and with which I suppose I must close. Seventeenth chapter of Ezekiel, “I will take of the highest branch of the high cedar” the high cedar there means the tribe of Judah, “I will crop off from the top of his young twigs” the royal house of David, “a tender one.” Jesus Christ in the perfection of sensitiveness. See eleventh of Isaiah, “Shall make him quick in the fear of the Lord.” This tender plant was so sensitive that the least shadow of error, felt it in a moment, last shadow of sin, least shadow of wrong; he was so sensitive that he could not, by a want of sensibility, be betrayed into one error, one fault, one sin. Is it so with us? Alas! do not the things of the world awfully harden us? Are we not sometimes insensibly drawn into states of mind, into rebellions, and have to mourn, with the poet,

“All things of feeling show some sign

But this unfeeling heart of mine”?

Well, then, if we have not a perfection of feeling for ourselves, there was One that had a perfection of feeling for us.