Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/502



I. "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  to  a  grain  of  mustard seed." (Matt. xiii.  31.)  A  mustard  seed  is  small and not  remarkable  either  for  its  smell  or  outward  appearance, but  it  contains  within  itself  great  natural  heat, and manifests,  it,  particularly  when  it  its  bruised. Thus, Christ in  outward  appearance  was  "  a  worm  and  no  man, the  reproach  of  men  and  the  outcast  of  the  people." (Ps. xxi.  7.)  Nevertheless  He  is  possessed  of  all  "  the treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge." (Col. ii.  3.)  When He was  bruised  and  buffeted,  and  suspended  on  His cross, He  expressed  and  manifested  the  most  unparalleled charity  for  mankind. Do you  on  your  part  suffer yourself to  be  inflamed  with  emanations  of  love,  from this divine  source.

II. In this  world  the  just  bear  a  resemblance  to  the mustard seed. They are  simple  and  contemptible  in  the eyes of  the  world,  but  they  are  high  in  the  estimation  o£ God  and  His  angels. Of them,  the  wicked  will  say  at the  day  of  judgment:  "We  fools  esteemed  their  life madness,  and  their  end  without  honor.  Behold,  how they  are  numbered  among  the  children  of  God." (Wis, v. 4.)  Observe  also  that  good  men  display  their  virtue most, when  they  are  under  the  pressure  of  afflictions. Hence the  Apostle  writes,  "  When  I  am  weak,  I  am  powerful." (2 Cor.  xii.  10.)

III. When the  mustard  seed  is  sown,  it  grows  into  a large  tree,  "  so  that  the  birds  of  the  air  come  and  dwell in  the  branches  thereof." Thus, Christ  was  perfectly mortified and  dead  on  the  cross,  and  in  His  branches.