heaven; and how small and fragmentary a share in that work each
individual servant of His has. Let us look at these points briefly.

I. First, then, we have here the suggestion of what Christ began to
do and teach on earth.

Now, at first sight, the words of our text seem to be in strange and
startling contradiction to the solemn cry which rang out of the
darkness upon Calvary. Jesus said, 'It is finished!' and 'gave up the
ghost.' Luke says He 'began to do and teach.' Is there any
contradiction between the two? Certainly not. It is one thing to lay
a foundation; it is another thing to build a house. And the work of
laying the foundation must be finished before the work of building
the structure upon it can be begun. It is one thing to create a
force; it is another thing to apply it. It is one thing to compound a
medicine; it is another thing to administer it. It is one thing to
unveil a truth; it is another to unfold its successive applications,
and to work it into a belief and practice in the world. The former is
the work of Christ which was finished on earth; the latter is the
work which is continuous throughout the ages.

'He began to do and teach,' not in the sense that any should come
after Him and do, as the disciples of most great discoverers and
thinkers have had to do: namely, systematise, rectify, and complete
the first glimpses of truth which the master had given. 'He began to
do and teach,' not in the sense that after He had 'passed into the
heavens' any new truth or force can for evermore be imparted to
humanity in regard of the subjects which He taught and the energies
which He brought. But whilst thus His work is complete, His earthly
work is also initial. And we must remember that whatever distinction