"for He knew what was in man." He knew that the flatterers of to-day would be the accusers of to-mor row. Nathanael stood before Him. He had scarcely spoken a word; but at once, unhesitatingly, to Nathanael's own astonishment, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!" There came to Him a young man with vast possessions: a single sentence, an exaggerated epithet, an excited manner, revealed his character. Enthusiastic and amiable, Jesus loved him; capable of obedience, on life's sunshine and prosperity,-ay, and capable of aspiration after something more than mere obedience, but not of sacrifice. Jesus tested him to the quick, and the young man failed. He did not try to call him back, for He knew what was in him and what was not. He read through Zaccheus when he climbed into the sycamore-tree, despised by the people as a publican, really a son of Abraham; through Judas, with his benevolent saying about the selling of the alabaster-box for the poor, and his false kiss; through the curses of the thief upon the cross, a faith that could be saved; through the zeal of the man who in a fit of enthu siasm offered to go with Him whithersoever He would. He read through the Pharisees, and His whole being shuddered with the recoil of utter and irreconcilable aversion.

It was as if His bosom was some mysterious mirror, on which all that came near Him left a sullied or unsullied surface, detecting themselves by every breath.

Now, distinguish that Divine power from that cunning sagacity which men call knowingness in the mat ter of character. The worldly wise have maxims and

rules; but the finer shades and delicacies of truth of character escape them. They would prudently avoid Zaccheus - a publican; they

There is a very solemn aspect in which this power of Jesus to know man presents itself. It is this which qualifies Him for judgment, this perfection of human sympathy. Perfect sympathy with every most delicate line of good implies exquisite antipathy to every shadow of a shade of evil. God hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. On sympathy the final award of Heaven and Hell are built: Attraction and Repulsion, the law of the magnet. To each pole all that has affinity with itself—to Christ all that is Christlike, from Christ all that is not Christlike, forever and forever. Eternal judgment is nothing more than the carrying out of these words, "I know my sheep; "for the obverse of them is, "I never knew you; depart from me, all ye that work iniquity."

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The second proof which Christ alleges of the genuineness of His pastorate is, that His sheep know Him. How shall we recognize Truth Divine? What is the test by which we shall know whether it comes from God or not? They tell us we know Christ to be from God because He wrought miracles; we know a doctrine to be from God because we find it written, or because it is sustained by an universal consent of fathers.

That is for observe what this argument implies-there is something more evident than truth; Truth cannot prove itself; we want something else to prove it. Our souls judge of truth, our senses judge of miracles; and the evidence of our senses - the lowest

part of our nature-is more certain than the evidence of our souls, by which we must partake of God.

Now, to say so, is to say that you cannot be sure that it is mid-day, or morning sunshine, unless you look at the sun-dial; you cannot be sure that the sun is shining in the heavens unless you see his shadow on the dial-plate. The dial is valuable to a man who never reads the heavens, the shadow is good for him who has not watched the sun; but, for a man who lives in perpetual contemplation of the sun in heaven, the sunshine needs no evidence, and every hour is known.

Now, Christ says, "My sheep know Me." Wisdom is justified by her children. Not by some lengthened investigation, whether the shepherd's dress be the identical dress, and the staff and the crosier genuine, do the sheep recognize the shepherd. They know him, they hear his voice, they know him as a man knows his friend.

They know him, in short, instinctively. Just so does the soul recognize what is of God and true. Truth is like light; visible in itself, not distinguished by the shadows that it casts. There is a something in our souls of God, which corresponds with what is of God outside us, and recognizes it by direct intuition; something in the true soul which corresponds with truth, and knows it to be truth. Christ came with truth, and the true recognize it as true; the sheep know the Shepherd, wanting no further evidence. Take a few examples: "God is Love."-"What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"-"He that saveth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it." "All things are possible to him that

believeth.". "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."-" God is a Spirit."

Now, the wise men of intellect and logical acumen wanted proof of these truths. Give us, said they, your credentials. "By what authority doest thou these things?" They wanted a sign from heaven to prove that the truth was true, and the life He led Godlike, and not devil-like. How can we be sure that

it is not from Beelzebub, the prince of the devils, that these deeds and sayings come? We must be quite sure that we are not taking a message from hell as one from heaven. Give us demonstration,- chains of evidence, chapter and verse, authority.

But simple men had decided the matter already. They knew very little of antiquity, church authority, and shadows of coming events, which prophecy casts before; but their eyes saw the light, and their hearts felt the present God. Wise Pharisees and learned doctors said, to account for a wondrous miracle, "Give God the glory."

But the poor, unlettered man, whose blinded eye had for the first time looked on a face of love, replied, "Whether this man be a sinner or not, I know not; one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see."

The well-read Jews could not settle the literary question, whether the marks of his appearance coïn cided with the prophecies. But the Samaritans felt the life of God: "Now we believe, not because of thy word, but because we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ."

The Shepherd had come, and the sheep knew His voice.

Brethren, in all matters of eternal truth, the soul is before the intellect, the things of God are spiritually discerned. You know truth by being true; you rec ognize God by being like Him. The scribe comes and says, I will prove to you that this is sound doctrine, by chapter and verse, by what the old and best writers say, by evidence such as convinces the intel lect of an intelligent lawyer or juryman. Think you the conviction of faith is got in that way?

Christ did not teach like the scribes. He spoke His truth. He said, "If any man believe not, I judge him not; the word which I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." It was true, and the guilt of disbelieving it was not an error of the intellect, but a sin of the heart.

Let us stand upright; let us be sure that the test of truth is the soul within us. Not at second-hand can we have assurance of what is Divine, and what is not; only at first-hand. The sheep of Christ hear His voice.

The third proof given by Christ was pastoral fidel. ity: "I lay down my life for the sheep." Now, here is the doctrine of vicarious sacrifice; sacrifice of one instead of another; life saved by the sacrifice of life.

Most of us know the meagre explanation of these words which satisfies the Unitarians; they say that Christ merely died as a martyr, in attestation of the truths He taught.

But you will observe the strength of the expression which we cannot explain away, "I lay down my life for"- that is, instead of "the sheep." If the Shep nerd had not sacrificed Himself, the sheep must have been the sacrifice.