THIS chapter contains the last section of the Manifesto of the King, and may be described as a summary of principles of action. Its light flashes back on the teaching of our Lord, and forward on the obedience of His subjects.

The first twelve verses deal with the attitude of the subjects of the Kingdom to those who are without. In the first six verses the King describes that attitude. In the next five (7-11) [Mat 7:7-11] He tells His subjects of the power in which they will be able to obey the injunctions given. In verse 12 (Mat 7:12) He returns to the original teaching, linking it, in a crystallized form, with the truth He has declared concerning the power at their disposal.

First the attitude described. It is a twofold attitude-without censoriousness, "Judge not;" but with careful discrimination Do not cast holy things to dogs.

As there breaks upon us a consciousness of the difficulty of obedience to this description of attitude, it seems as though the Lord, looking at that little group of men listening to Him, the first subjects of the Kingdom, had said to them, Does this appear to be difficult? Do you feel this is an impossible ethic? Is this something far exceeding the righteousness of Scribes and Pharisees? Are you doubtful as to how you will be able to obey? "Ask," "seek," "knock," and everything you need for obedience is at your disposal.

Then, having revealed the dynamic, He continues, and we specially need to notice one word in His next statement, for it is the key to the unity of the whole section. He says, "All things therefore" and that "therefore" leans back upon the "ask," "seek," "knock." "Therefore" links the final declaration concerning our attitude to the outside man, with the initial description, through the medium of the promised power.

This paragraph is unified, and its one teaching has to do with our attitudes toward other people. First, a detailed description; secondly, a declaration of the power in which we shall be able to obey so fine and searching an ideal; and finally, a command, which we describe as the golden rule, and often misquote by taking the words out of the context, and by omission of the " therefore," rob of half its force. We have no right to read this verse, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them." We have no right to quote it in that way, and to call it the golden rule. We must not omit the "therefore." If we do we cannot obey. If we retain the "therefore," then, amazed and terrified by the tremendous claim, we are driven to ask, to seek, to knock, and to know that the Listener to the asking, to the seeking, to the knocking, is our Father. Then the rule is golden, golden with heaven's own light, flashing with heaven's own fire, possible with heaven's own power but in no other way.

Now let us turn to a consideration of these three sections. First, our Lord's description of the attitude of His subjects to those who are without. As already indicated, this divides itself into two parts. The first five verses forbid censoriousness; and the sixth verse insists upon a careful discrimination. The one commandment is contained in the first words. Everything that follows explains and argues for obedience to that command "For with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete it shall be measured unto you." That is graphic illustration. The King decrees that whatever measure we use, the other man will use the same. In what measure we mete in that same measure it shall be measured unto us.

A careful understanding of the use of the word "judge" here is very necessary, because in the second section when our Lord says, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine," He commands us to judge; and upon another occasion He distinctly said to His disciples, "Judge righteous judgment." So that this command, "Judge not, that ye be not judged," must not be taken superlatively as though we were not to use the reason and the powers of discrimination which are ours within the Kingdom of God. We must therefore understand what our Lord really meant by the word, and how He used it in this particular connection.

The strict meaning of the word "judge" is to distinguish, to decide; and the variety of applications possible to such a word is evidenced by the fact of the variety of ways in which it is translated in our New Testament. In the Authorized Version it is translated in all these ways: Avenge, condemn, decree, esteem, go to law, ordain, sentence to, think, conclude, damn, determine, judge, sue at the law, call in question. There is no value in that grouping save as it reveals the fact that the simplest thought in the word is that of distinguishing decision. Sometimes the decision may be adverse, sometimes it may express itself as a decree determined upon, sometimes it may express itself as a sentence to be carried out. All these varieties are seen in the translations made use of. The simplest thought is that of distinguishing, coming to a decision. Sometimes it runs out into action, sometimes it conditions a passive position. Therefore its particular sense must always be determined by the context. Here, evidently, the Lord did not use the word "judge" in the sense of forbidding us to discriminate, to distinguish, to decide. There can be no doubt whatever that He used it of coming to adverse conclusion in the sense of condemnatory censoriousness. "Judge not," condemn not, come to no final decision, do not usurp the throne of judgment, or pass a sentence, or find a final verdict; "Judge not, that ye be not judged." So He forbids to His subjects, the usurpation of the throne of final judgment about any human being. He tells them that they are not to judge in the sense of condemnation; that there is no power deposited in the individual life that shall enable that individual to find a verdict, and to pass a final sentence; and He warns us off, every one of us, from that spirit of critical censoriousness which decides concerning our brother, as to the Tightness or wrongness of his action, because we cannot possibly weigh in the balances all the motives that may lie behind that action.

Our Lord then proceeds to give reasons against such judgment First, retributive judgment will fall back upon the man who exercises such judgment. Of course there are different interpretations of the meaning of the words, "With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged." Does He mean with what judgment we judge our fellow man we shall be judged by God? Some commentators tell us so. We may judge our fellow man falsely; God cannot. We come to wrong conclusions because of the limitations of our being; God cannot come to wrong conclusions. That can hardly therefore be the meaning.

Then He proceeds to say, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be, measured unto you." Luke chronicles the uttering of the same words at another time: "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again." There is no doubt that the King's purpose is to teach us that we must expect to receive judgment on the same basis as that on which we give it. If we set ourselves up as men finding verdicts and sentences, then we must expect to be so judged; and in the measure in which we mete to men our judgment, in that measure they will mete their judgment to us.

The King immediately rises into what would appear to be a higher realm-"Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me cast out the mote out of thine eye; and lo, the beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite; cast out first the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."

"Beam," "mote." Nowhere else in the New Testament are these words used. Very literally, a beam is just exactly what the word means to us, the branch of a tree, or a massive piece of timber. A mote is hardly what we understand by a mote. It is a dry twig off a branch, a chip from the beam itself. Of course, the proportion is the same. The small thing is the mote; the beam is the great thing that blinds entirely. What is the beam to which the Lord refers? He is speaking to men who exercise a spirit of criticism against other men, who are supposed to be sinners above the measure in which the critic is a sinner. This cannot apply, therefore, to the case of a man who is living in vulgar sin if he criticizes the man guilty of a sin less venal. The beam is not what the world calls a vulgar sin, because the man living in open and vulgar sin never does criticize the man guilty of small sin. If the beam be some prominent vulgarity, then there is no point in the illustration at all. The man who says there is something in the other man's life which is not consistent, is the man that says that there is nothing inconsistent in his own life. Yet the King says that there is a beam in his eye; he who professes to have the right to criticize his brother has something greater-a beam in his own eye, and it is that lack of love which expresses itself in censoriousness. When men look for motes, the passion that makes them do so is a beam, more guilty in the sight of heaven than the mote for which they look. We should be far more pitiful, far more gentle and kindly in our judgment, far less anxious to criticize the man with the habit that we have not, had we more love. Christ arrests the man who has no mote, and says, Your search for a mote is evidence of a beam, and you have no power to see the mote in its true relation and proportion; there is a hindrance to the vision because the beam is in your own eye. The slight change in the final word is interesting. "Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye; then shalt thou see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother's eye." He did not say, "Then shalt thou see clearly the mote,"but, "Then shalt thou see clearly to cast it out." The man with the beam is the man who is looking for the mote, and beholding it. Notice the question, "Why beholdest thou the mote?" You criticize it, you attack it, but you cannot move it. Get the beam out of your own eye, get the passion for criticism removed, get the ungodly and unchristlike endeavour to find the mote destroyed; and then you will see clearly, not the mote, but how to remove it. The power for removing the mote to which you object lies, not in the acuteness of your vision, but in the passionate love which makes you desire to remove it. And so with the beam of unchristly censoriousness and criticism gone, you will be able to take the mote out of your brother's eye.

There is nothing more ungodly than a critical spirit; nothing more unchristly than that false righteousness which is always looking for a mote. Once let the beam be removed, then will come the Christlike spirit that knows how, with gentle delicate touch, to remove the mote, that the brother's vision may be clear. So the Lord warns us from usurping the throne of judgment. Do not form a final judgment; do not come to adverse and critical conclusions concerning men.

Then there is a sudden change. "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and turn and rend you." We are not to be critically censorious, but we must exercise discrimination and discretion. There are characters we must discern and be careful of, for there are things committed to our care which we must safeguard at all costs. This may appear a rough description of the characters, but the King makes use of no vulgar descriptions save when He is describing vulgar things. Who are the "dogs," the "swine"? Let Scripture interpret Scripture. No doubt Peter heard Him say this, and after he had passed through very wonderful experiences he wrote, and used words his Master used. "It has happened to them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire" (2Pe 2:22). "It has happened unto them." In the previous chapter we have a remarkable exposition of these words of Jesus. The chapter begins with false prophets. As we go on through, the chapter we have the terrible teaching that, though we may be in the place of privilege and blessing, if we turn our back upon it we must be cast out therefrom. It is a terrible and dark description of certain men who resolutely set themselves against holy things, but who come into holy places to traffic with holy things with unholy purposes-dogs, who presently will go back to their vomit; swine, who presently will be back to their wallowing in the mire. Do not judge your fellow man hastily; but when a man has manifested his character do not give holy things to dogs, do not fling pearls before swine. Remember, if out of false charity or pity you allow men of material ideals and worldly wisdom to touch holy things, to handle the pearls of the Kingdom, presently they will turn and rend you. That is the whole history of Christendom's ruin, in the measure in which Christendom is ruined. There is a very clear distinction between the Church of God and Christendom. The Church of God is not a failure-the great holy entity in union with Him but the outward manifestation is. We gave holy things to dogs. We imagined that when a Roman emperor espoused the cause of Christianity, it was a great thing. We cast the pearls of the Kingdom before swine; and the men who had to do only with the earthly things have turned again, and rent the outward manifestation of unity. If a brother stands out, makes choice against the will of God, and refuses the light, then we are to discriminate. There is a separation made within the borders o Christ's Kingdom, and, while we are to indulge in no censorious criticism and final judgment of our fellow man, if that man, judged by his own action and character, is unworthy, then we are not to give him holy things, we are not to cast our pearls before swine.

Then notice what immediately follows. This fine distinction between censoriousness and discrimination creates a difficulty, in the presence of which we may well be afraid. How shall we know just where to draw the line? What is to be the difference between the thing Christ will not have, and the thing He commands? How are we to know in this world whether we are to come to a judgment or no? The Lord lays down no rule, but He says, "Ask"-"seek"-"knock." So important are the two injunctions that we should judge not; that we must discriminate-that we must for evermore maintain our attitude toward our fellow men by maintaining our relationship with God. These great words, "Ask"-"seek"-"knock" may have a far wider application, but this is the application the King made of them in His Manifesto. Christ could say no little thing, and for two smaller matters He applies great principles. We do no wrong to the principles if sometimes we apply them to larger matters; but we do wrong if we miss the fact that He applies them to the smaller things. "Ask" in relation to" these things." If you question this link you have only to go to the repetition in the Golden Rule and remember the word "therefore." The Golden Rule is closely connected with these instructions. It would be perfectly correct to read the first six verses, and then immediately the twelfth. Do not judge men; do not come to hasty decision; discriminate between them; do not give to dogs. "All things therefore whatsoever ye would." Between this final epitome and the clear statement at the beginning, occurs this command to Ask, Seek, Knock. The King drives us back into perpetual and intimate relationship with God in order that our attitude with regard to our fellow men should be what it ought to be.

Let us, then, consider that threefold command.

"Ask." The Lord never used the same words to describe His own prayers as those He employed to describe the prayers of other people. The word "ask" here means as to simplest intention, to beg in the sense of dependence. It is the word of the man who comes with empty hands and says, "I have nothing to buy with." Christ never used that word of His praying; He never asked God as a pauper.

When He spoke of His own praying He used words that might be translated: I will inquire of the Father, I will speak with Him concerning this matter-as One upon a perfect equality. But, for us, "ask" is the first thing. We must recognize our dependence upon God.

The next word is "Seek," and in that there is the suggestion of care; it marks the true anxiety. Do not merely ask in dependence, but ask with the urgency of a great desire.

Finally, "Knock." In that word we have the mingling of dependence and effort, suggested by the first two-"ask," "seek." "Ask" when you do not know how to judge. "Seek" which is the effort of the sanctified man after the mind of God. "Knock," perpetually making application. We cannot live one day in office, or shop, or ordinary place of action, and know when to discriminate, and when not to judge, except as we live every day and every hour asking, seeking, knocking. We must live near God if we would live in right relationship with our fellow men. We must live right with our fellow men if we would live right with God.

Again, if these are the words that mark human responsibility, let us mark the words which reveal the Divine attitude.

First, God is willing to bestow, and Jesus bases His argument on the character of God. Notice the suggested contrast: "If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father Who is in heaven?"-evidently the suggestion is that He is not evil, nor can be evil. The word "evil" does not merely mean sinful; it is a word which includes natural and moral limitation and fault. It takes in frailty, and weakness, and sickness, and sorrow. We are evil, subjects of limitation as well as sin. God is not evil. Time writes no wrinkle upon the Infinite Brow of Deity. He fainteth not neither is weary. He is not limited by observation or bounded by horizons; and if we, with our limitation, know how to give our children good gifts, how much more our heavenly Father?

Are you afraid as you face the demand Christ's law makes upon you? Ask, seek, knock, and know that the Listener is your Father. Learn, says Jesus, how He listens, and how He appeals to the highest thing within yourself,-even though you are evil your own fatherhood. If your boy asks you for bread you will not give him a stone. The thing is absurd. It is well sometimes to be superlative. We stand among men having to discriminate, never to judge; forbidden the usurpation of a final throne of judgment, and yet forbidden to cast holy things before dogs and swine. How can we do it? "Ask, seek, knock." It is not a servant keeps the door; it is your Father. The King has taken us into the powerhouse of all true living; He has brought us back to the place where wheels are throbbing with infinite energy; but at the centre of the wheels is not an axle, but a heart. All the infinite dynamic of righteousness is born in the compassion of the heart of God. "Ask, seek, knock;" "Your Father."

Finally, "therefore." How that "therefore" flames upon one as one searches one's own soul in the presence of these commands. Do not judge, yet discriminate. How devilish is the critical spirit that sees the mote; and yet how necessary is the discrimination that withholds holy things from dogs and swine. The voice of the infinite Fatherhood says, "My child, for obedience to every command I am here to provide you power," and we are afraid no more. "Therefore" links the necessity with the power-"Ask, seek, knock."

What is this summarizing of our duty? Do unto your neighbour what you would that your neighbour should do to you. That is the whole thing. We are told sometimes that this is not peculiar to Jesus Christ. That the Golden Rule is not the peculiar property of Christianity. But you cannot find this rule anywhere else. Hillel, the great Hebrew master, said, "Do not do to thy neighbour what is hateful to thyself." That is very like it. He said that before Jesus came. Socrates, before Christ, wrote these words: "What stirs your anger when done to you by others, that do not to others." That is very much like it Aristotle said, "We should bear ourselves toward others as we would desire they should bear themselves toward us." That seems even nearer, but it is not the same. Confucius, the great Chinese teacher, said, "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." These things were said before Christ spoke, and we are told they are the same.

There is this radical difference-these are negative and passive; Christ's command is positive and active. These say to man, Stand still, and do not do what you do not want anyone to do to you; Christ says, Go and do what you would that he should do to you. It is not merely that you are to refrain from harming him; you are to do him good. It is not that you are not to rob him; you are to give to him. It is not that you are not to murder him; you are to love him. And so the gleams of light which characterize the teaching of Gentiles, as well as the revelation which had come to Jews, He took up, and fulfilled and made final. We might, out of a selfish self-respect, decline to harm our neighbour but we cannot do this higher thing without power. We cannot do continuously what we would our neighbour should do to us save as we ask, seek, and knock, and know that our Father is pledged to us in power.

THE final words of the King in this Manifesto are full of dignity-in very deed the words of a King. Nay, rather, and more correctly, they are the words of the one and only King of men. They are words of warning; thrilling with the concern of a great love; vibrant with the majesty of His own power.

The passage may be divided into two main parts. In the first section (vv. 13-23) [Mat 7:13-23] the Lord laid upon those who had been listening to Him a threefold responsibility; while in the second section, the very last utterance of the Manifesto (vv. 24-27 [Mat 7:24-27], He laid before them alternative issues.

The Manifesto was introduced by the words; " Seeing the multitudes, He went up into the mountain: and when He had sat down, His disciples came unto Him: and He opened His mouth and taught them"-that is, the disciples, not the multitudes. At the end He spoke still to His disciples, for the things He said cannot have their first application to the outside crowd. He desired to set up the Kingdom of God everywhere; therefore He had instructed those who were already in it, that they were to live it, and teach it, and apply it in all the larger relationships.

Speaking still thus to His own, He laid upon them a threefold responsibility, first as to the beginning (vv.13-14) [Mat 7:13-14]; then as to progress (vv.15-20) [Mat 7:15-20]; and, finally, as to issues (vv.21-23) [Mat 7:21-23].

Notice carefully the sequence of these three. First, responsibility as to the beginning: "Enter ye in by the narrow gate-"that is, get into the true way. Then responsibility as to progress upon the way; "Beware of false prophets"-that is, be true to truth after you have entered the Kingdom. Finally, live in the light of the ultimate day; and remember that then, no profession of relationship or of service will avail, but one thing only life homed in the will of God.

These, then, are the words which condition responsibility as to the way, as to the truth, as to the life. "Enter ye in by the narrow gate," that you may be in the true way; "Beware of false prophets," that you may live in the sphere of truth ; Live in the light of the final day, that your life may be not only progressive, but finally rounded out to that perfection for which God is seeking.

Said Jesus on another occasion to men-and the words flash their light upon this passage-"I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life." "Enter ye in by the narrow gate," and find the true way, for "I am the Way." "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves," but listen to the true Prophet, Who is essential Truth, for "I am the Truth;" and walk in comradeship with Him upon the way, having come to Him for entrance to the Kingdom. Do not depend upon what you do, but upon what you are. Do not trust to the fact that you have named the name of Christ, and have rendered Him service. Trust only to the fact that you are in yourself, as He was in Himself conditioned in the will of God, for "I am the Life."

Now let us examine these one by one. First, He brings us to the wicket gate. He pointed to the wicket gate in the very first words of the Manifesto. "Blessed are the poor in spirit." Poverty of spirit, lowliness, and meekness, constitute the true tone and temper of the mind that is, submission, allegiance, and obedience. That was the beginning. It is very sweet and tender in its wording; but we know, if we have come to the King, that it is a drastic requirement, which demands the giving up of everything that interferes with a man's quick and ready obedience to the King.

Now He brings us back again to the wicket gate, and shows how men enter. Notice the figures of speech of which He makes use. There are two entrances and two ways. He describes them. There is a narrow gate and a wide gate; a broad way and a straitened way. Yet to leave these things grouped in that way is not to catch the final movement of this suggestive teaching of Jesus. We need to keep the way in each case in relation to the gate. Doing so, we find that in effect the King says ; You enter this Kingdom by a very narrow gate ; and you walk along a straitened way which for evermore grows broader, until at last it becomes broad in the fullness of eternal life. If you enter through the other gate, it is wide, it is easy to get through; and you walk along a broad way, which is for evermore straitening, until at last it becomes destruction. We generally take these verses, and deal only with the gateways and the pathway immediately beyond the entrances. Never omit the final words in either case; it "leadeth to destruction,"it"leadeth unto life." The word "destruction" suggests the narrowing of things, the limitation of things, the imprisonment of everything. It means a condition of life in which aspiration never realizes, in which a man is shut up within the things that are narrow. So that Jesus says: If you refuse My teaching, if you will not have this Kingdom, then you go through the wide gate and find yourself on a broad way, which may be smooth, and even flowery, but it "leadeth to destruction." The man who is only looking at the gate and the road he is tramping to-day is a fool. Lift your eyes and look ahead. The wide gate and the broad way of refusing this King and His ideals, and refusing allegiance to Him "leadeth to destruction;" the way narrows, until the soul is in the prison-house.

But on the other hand-and with this positive element we are now more interested-the way into the Kingdom is by a narrow gate; and the way is a straitened road. But it "leadeth unto life."

What does He mean when at the close of this wonderful unfolding of law He brings us back to the narrowness of the gate, to the straitness of the way? These conditions imply the making of heroic character! For entrance to, and abiding in, this Kingdom there can be no dilettante fooling with the passing hours. If men would pass that gate and walk that way they must enter into strenuous life. If a man should tell you that Christianity is an easy softness, he knows nothing of it. If a man should tell you that for your life there is nothing to do, he is right as to the initiation of it by the act of God, for life is the gift of His grace; but he is wrong as to human responsibility for entering into it. Every man who would enter this Kingdom must come through the narrow gate. Every man who would live in this Kingdom must walk the straitened way.

There is no great kingdom which man desires to possess which does not bring him to a narrow gate and a straitened way. Those who have set their faces, honourably and splendidly, toward proficiency in medical skill know there is the narrow gate and the straitened way of toil-hard, strenuous toil. Those in whom there burn the fires and the passions of the true artist can never expect to succeed by going through a wide gate and treading a broad way. There must be the infinite patience which takes pains. Was ever a true artist born who had not to take pains? These illustrations are on a low level; lift them into the higher. If you would possess the Kingdom that includes all kingdoms; if you would live within the Kingdom in which all values are to be finally perfected and realized, you must get through the narrow gate and the straitened way. No man can be a Christian in all the full senses of the word who is not prepared to get to the wicket, and strip, and tramp the straitened way. These are the words of the King, and He knows 1 He gained His redemptive authority by submission; He yielded Himself to the supreme authority of His Father, and we read this very startling thing concerning Him in the Scriptures of inspiration. "He . . . learned obedience by the things which He suffered." That does not mean that He learned to be obedient through suffering; but that He learned obedience experimentally through treading the pathway of suffering.

So He brings us back again to the wicket. It is a narrow gate, a straitened way; and with that infinite tenderness, so characteristic of Him, just as He has taken hold of us with a grip of infinite power and charged us to strip, He points us to the ultimate, the infinite life. When Jesus says life we have nothing to add.

Secondly; as to progress, He said; "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves." Notice very carefully that our Lord is not warning us against heretical views in this passage. He is not warning us against heterodox teaching, so far as heterodoxy means a wrong system of truth; but He is warning us against the prophet who is a wolf, but who wears a sheep's clothing; that is against the orthodox veiling of heterodox life. He is not warning us against a man who does not exactly express truth in the terms with which we are familiar; but He is warning us against the wolf in sheep's clothing; the teacher who affects the speech of orthodoxy, but lives a false life; not the man who holds a false doctrine, but the false prophet. His prophecy may be perfectly accurate, his preaching may be absolutely orthodox, but the man is false. That is the man who will lead farthest from truth. It is possible to pronounce the shibboleths of the Bible in the most accurate manner, and yet for the heart to be far away from their purpose and intention. Here it is not intellectual heterodoxy; but men who laud the teaching, and deny the spirit; men whose appearance is outward and ostentatious; who appear in sheep's clothing; but whose energy and influence are wolfish.

How are we to know these men? This evil cannot be dealt with by a committee, or conference, or synod, or council. We cannot find out whether a man is orthodox or heterodox in life, by examining him in words. We can only know men by their fruit. We must wait. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Our Lord introduced and closed His statement by that word; but between, He made an appeal as to the accuracy of His position, first by asking the question: "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" It is as though He said, This is a true test. Is not fruit the final test of the nature of life? Notice how He immediately proceeded; "Even so." Have you ever tried to connect that "even so"? Have you asked yourself why He said "even so"? He asked them, "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" There was the answering, No, on the faces of the men. Perhaps they shook their heads, as though they would say, Of course not. "Even so" shows that He had carried their judgment, that they had agreed with Him; that it is impossible to gather fruitage from any tree save that which is the outcome of its inner life. One of the Puritan Fathers, writing on this passage, said: "It is quite possible to put grapes on thorns. It is quite possible to put figs on thistles, but they cannot grow there." It is quite possible for a wolf to wear a sheep's clothing, but it cannot grow a sheep's clothing. And when our Lord had asked the question, and gained the assent of the judgment of His hearers, then He made a great positive affirmation; "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit;" and a great negative affirmation, "but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit;" and then a further negative statement; "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit" It is the repetition of a principle from which we cannot depart. We cannot gather good fruit from a corrupt tree.

We cannot make any appeal against such repetition as this, in which our Lord by affirmation, negation, question, and by renewed affirmation, stating the case from every standpoint, asserted this great truth; that the test of the prophet is the prophet's life. It is a searching word for the prophet, to be spoken quietly, to be thought of seriously; to the testing of which every man who opens his mouth to prophesy, should bring his life every day and every hour.

And once again; as to the issue, the King said, perhaps, some of the most solemn things He ever said. Profession of allegiance is absolutely valueless. We all believe that. To hear the law, and to disobey, is the most terrible kind of profanity of which man can be guilty. This does not need arguing, but simply restating, because of its terrible solemnity and its most searching application. You have perhaps heard somewhere a child of the slum using profane language, and you have said, He is taking the name of God in vain; it is a terrible sin. It is. But when you prayed, "Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done," unless you had let His Kingdom come in your life, your profanity was worse than the profanity of the man on the street, your blasphemy was more terrible than the blasphemy of the child of the slum. Jesus said, "In that day"-the light of which flames over all these days if we have but eyes to see-"In that day" He will say to the man who says, "Lord, Lord," but does not obey Him, "I never knew you." Yes, the blasphemy of the sanctuary is more awful than the blasphemy of the slum. To pray, "Lord, Lord," and to disobey Him, is of the very essence of villainy. That is what Judas did; kissed Him, and betrayed Him! If these words of Jesus have startled us with their severity; let us know that there is a profound reason for that severity.

Finally as to the issue. This, perhaps, is a more searching word still. "Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by Thy name, and by Thy name cast out demons, and by Thy name do many mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity."

Listen to what they say. "We have done." Yes, they had done everything but the Lord's will. They had hoped to make up for disobedience to His will, in personal life, by doing many things for Hun in their church, their city, and in the world. Mark well what the King said of the whole of such activity. "Workers of iniquity."

So that if it should be that we who have prophesied in His name, yet disobey Him in the individual and personal matters of our own life; if we should preach about this Manifesto, and yet not submit to the King in all the details of our life; what then? Our preaching is iniquity, our casting out of demons is a sin. All service is rejected, except the service rendered by such as are themselves doing the will of God. Christ will say to such; "I never knew you," which does not mean, I did not know about you, I do not know your name, I did not watch your life; but, "I never knew you;" there was no intimacy, no comradeship, no fellowship between us. You took My name to make your name; you took My name to work your miracles; you took My name for certain self-centered purposes; but you did not know Me, and I did not know you.

Here is the imperial King, in these last utterances of His Manifesto, standing in the light of "that day" which is to be-claiming the throne, claiming that His verdict will be the final one, claiming that the final sentences will fall from His own lips.

What shall we do in the presence of these words? .We had better betake ourselves to some lonely secret chamber and read them all again. We had better say, Have we ever come through the strait gate? Have we been misled by some false spirit of prophecy, which says the correct thing, and lives the wrong life? Have we been saying, "Lord, Lord," and failing to do the will?

Do you think this is all hard and harsh? It is the hardness and the harshness of the Infinite love. "Narrow is the gate, straitened is the way-" beware of anything that is false in the prophet, beware of saying, "Lord, Lord." Let the light of "that day" flash; and the thunder of it arrest; and the fire of it affright; yet know that He will save us from the things that harm and blight and curse and spoil. May these words with which He closes the Manifesto come into our life as a new fire, as a new force of purity.

Lastly, notice the second division of the paragraph. There is an alternative of issues. We need specially to remember the majesty of these last words of Christ, the marvellous claim He makes. He says, in effect: You must all build character. This is the day of character building. This is the day in which, in our systems of pedagogy, and of philosophy, we are discussing character building. The King supremely recognizes the importance of it. He says: Every man builds. There is a common quantity in this final illustration the fact of building. But notice the difference. It is not in the men who build; or in the materials with which they build; but in the foundation on which they build. The foundation is everything. We may build with the same materials, and with the same structural correctness upon sand as upon rock; and all through summer days the buildings both appear to be all right. But summer days do not exhaust the days. There are days of pelting rain, of sweeping winds and hurricanes; and those are the days that will test our buildings. Therefore, it is not so much a matter of the man building, not so much a matter of the material, but of the foundation.

Hear, then, the imperial claim of Christ. He says: Take these sayings of Mine and build on them; and no storm can destroy your building. Hear these sayings of Mine and disobey them-and remember that this has nothing to do with the man who has never heard them; he is not here in view at all; this word is not to the heathen, it is to the man who hears and disobeys, the man who has seen a vision and dreamed a dream, the man who has heard the Infinite music, and will set his instruments to catch the tune-you can go on building, and we may look at the structure and say: What is the use of Christianity? that house is as beautiful as this; this man's character is as beautiful as the other's. But observe it, wait, wait! Presently there will come the storms of sorrow, of bereavement and of temptation, and then presently "that day;" and unless there be rock foundation, the fair superstructure will be spoiled by the sweeping storm. The King stands before all of us as He closes His Manifesto, and says, "These sayings of Mine;" build on them; and no storm can wreck your building.

We know all this to be true. We are not discussing the Person of Christ. We are not discussing the larger question of the work of Christ. We pause now where He ended. "These sayings of Mine." We know perfectly well that if we build on them our character will be such that no storm can wreck it. And if we will not, if we, having heard the sayings, do not obey them, there is no foundation upon which we can build a character that will weather the storm and stand to the very day of destiny.

We thus end our study of the Manifesto, listening first to a sublime claim, that His teaching is such foundation that no storm can disturb it; hearing also a message of hope, that here is stability on which we may build, knowing that our building will abide; and finally impressed by a solemn warning, that mere knowledge is of no value in the day of storm and flood.

When presently men shall rest in perfect peace, it will be within the sacred circle of this unfolding of law.

May God grant that we may be, not hearers only, but doers of the word of the King.