It is over the grave and the separate state, as well as over this earth with its duties and trials, that our Goel extends his care and protection: having guarded his people through life, He forgets them not in death, He forsakes them not after death; and therefore of Him, Him who "is near of kin unto us, one of our next Kinsmen," may it be said with an emphasis, which could never, comparatively, have been used of any other Goel, "Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead." We shall not presume to say that we have examined every case in which the Goel interfered. We have certainly taken the chief instances; and if others occur, a similar process of reasoning will bring out, we are persuaded, a similar result. And do not suppose, that, in pleading for the typical character of the Goel, we plead for the exist ence of a figure which was hidden from the men of the old dispensation. When Job exclaims, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," it is, "I know that my Goel, my Kinsman, liveth." And if the holy ones amongst the Jews could describe Christ as the Goel, would they not naturally turn to the offices of the Goel, in order that they might ascertain the offices of Christ?

Kinsmen of Christ for ye are all his kinsmen-kinsmen of Christ, shall your Goel have thus mightily interfered, and will ye put from you, through unbelief, the benefits of his interference? He made himself the Kins

Bear that, we beseech of

man of each one amongst you. you, in mind. Who is there that is not the kinsman of Christ? The kinsmanship resulted from his taking human nature; and it is enough therefore to be a man, and I know myself Christ's kinsman. And as He is the Kins

man of all, He is the Goel of all. He tasted death for every man. He redeemed every man's inheritance. He regained every man's liberty. He avenged every man's blood. If not, how was He the Goel of the race? But then He imposes a condition-"If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established." If ye will not believe, the land, though I have ransomed it, shall not come back to you; and the liberty, though I have purchased it, shall not be bestowed on you; and upon your own heads shall be your own blood. We give you thus the simple, glorious Gospel; and may God send it to your hearts. The Goel has interposed: He hath performed all the offices of the Kinsman and now unbelief, and nothing but unbelief, can exclude the poorest, the meanest, the most wicked amongst you, from a full and free share in the perfect Redemption.

Can any of you think of being his own Goel, of effecting for himself the salvation of his soul? There are chains to be broken; there is Paradise to be regained; there is Satan to be trampled under foot. And which of us is sufficient for these things? Who will undertake them in his own strength? It can hardly be that you will not shrink from what so manifestly surpasses human power. Then close at once with your Goel: take the Redemption which is proffered, without money and without price: you will find Christ "able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through Him." And when enabled to say, in the language of faith, "The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen," your experience of his preciousness will lead you continually to exclaim, both here and hereafter, "Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the living or the dead."

LECTURE XIX.

St. Barnabas.

ACTS xiv. 22.

"Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."

THESE words relate what was done by Barnabas and Paul, on revisiting Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, cities where they had preached the Gospel, and planted Churches. We take them as our subject of discourse, because our Church devotes this present day to the commemoration of St. Barnabas, the Apostle, whom she defines in her collect 'as endued with singular gifts of the Holy Ghost." His name was originally Joses; he was of the tribe of Levi, but born at Cyprus. This latter circumstance explains what is said of him, on his first mention in the book of the Acts, "Having land, he sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the Apostles' feet." You will remember, that, according to the law of Moses, the Levites were not allowed to possess estates of their own in the promised land: but this did not prevent their acquiring property in other countries: Joses then, possessing land in Cyprus, was at liberty to sell it, and throw the proceeds into the com

mon fund, which was then applied to the sustenance of poor Christians; and, on his doing this—for he may have been amongst the first or most liberal contributors to so charitable a design-he seems to have received from the Apostles the surname of Barnabas, which is interpreted by St. Luke, "the son of consolation."

We have but little information as to the life and labours of Barnabas. We read of his having been sent by the Apostles to confirm the new Christians at Antioch, who had received the faith on the preaching of those "which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen." When Barnabas came and had seen the grace of God," he was glad, and exhorted them all, that, with purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the Lord." The Evangelist then adds a testimony, which fully bears out the expressions in the collect of the day, "For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." He then became, for a considerable time, the coadjutor of St. Paul; but even those great lights were men of like passions with us: dissensions arose between Barnabas and St. Paul: they separated, but still laboured in the same cause; each chose a field for himself; and both strove, with like zeal, to win converts to the faith of their common Lord. There is little further known in regard of Barnabas. But it is generally agreed that "his last labours were employed in his native country, and that, by the malice of the Jews, he was tumultuously assaulted, and stoned to death at Salamis, the principal city of Cyprus."

And now, in taking our text as a fit subject of discourse on the feast of St. Barnabas, and in commenting especially,

as we design to do, on its latter clause, "We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God," we feel as though you may think that more consolatory words might have been looked for from "the son of consolation." Has Barnabas only to tell us of " much tribulation?" Has he no more cheering tidings, by which to vindicate his name? Nay, my brethren, if he speak of "much tribulation," he speaks also of that tribulation as a way of entering into the "Kingdom of God." Is it not consolatory to be told by St. Paul, that "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory?" Of course, the consolation does not lie in the being told that there are afflictions which must be borne, but in the being assured that these afflictions shall be instrumental to our everlasting good. It might scarcely consist with the name of Barnabas, that he should speak only of the multiplied sorrows which fall to the true believer's lot; but we recognise the voice of the "son of consolation," when those sorrows are represented as preparing us for Heaven. And often as, in one way or another, this truth comes before us, it seems always to take a more than common hold of the mind: cares and griefs are so numerous, so varied, so oppressive, that nothing falls more gratefully on the ear of a Christian assembly, than the mention of afflictions as fitting us for glory.

But we must take care lest we misapply the exhortation of Barnabas. The very readiness with which numbers hearken to a discourse upon sorrow, the soothing sound which there evidently is in words which tell how the Lord chasteneth his people, should suggest the importance of having it rightly understood, that though the kingdom is