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We are apt to let this idea slip. As soon as we have apprehended Christ as Saviour, we suppose sometimes that the work is done; whereas it is but just begun. Christ is Saviour in order that He may be King. He saves us first, because that is the only effective way of ruling over us. He cannot capture man and bring him into subjection, except by laying hold of man's heart. It is love that changes, and love that rules. One of our best story-tellers has taken us into a Californian camp. They were a hard, fighting, swearing set, those gold-diggers. But a baby was born into the camp, and these rough men were allowed to go and look at the little babe; and there was one man put his finger down, and the baby's hand wound round it, and seemed to thrill his rough, coarse nature with a new love. The man was changed; the camp was changed. It was love that did it. Love is Christ's method; rule His end. If Christ does not rule men, He has failed in the purpose that called Him here. All living things need a ruling force. The body is useless without the brain to direct its movements; the family fail when father and mother die; an army is powerless when there is no one to give orders; a state is the home of miserable factions when there is no recognised authority; and humanity itself is but a series of disjointed individuals, until Christ is crowned Lord of man and King of the world. Christian men are forgetting Christ's world-wide Lordship and universal claims; and these claims must be pressed home on the hearts and consciences of men until they fully acknowledge Jesus as Lord.

I. LORD OF MAN.

1. Ruling man's body, with its passions and inclinations.

2. Guiding man's mind, preserving the intellect from sophistry, the conscience from error, the heart from corruption.

II. LORD OF WOMAN.

1. Touching her tender heart with a deeper pathos for the sufferings of the world.

2. Making her man's helpmeet in all that is pure and ennobling.

3. Enabling her, with man, to deal with all that is evil in society and degrading in public sentiment.

III. LORD OF THE CHILD.

1. Alluring the young life along paths of obedience and self-denial and thoughtfulness.

2. Yet filling the lap with buttercups and daises, and merriment and laughter. "Suffer little children," etc.

IV. LORD OF THE HOME. Determining its —

1. Expenditure.

2. Giving.

3. Habits.

4. Prayers.

5. Purposes, and binding parents, children, servants, into one holy fellowship.

V. LORD OF THE CHURCH. Giving —

1. Truth to feed the mind.

2. Grace to support the life.

3. Wisdom to guide the judgment.

4. Reverence to lift up the soul in worship.

5. Enthusiasm to inspire the work.

6. A peaceful spirit, binding all together by our golden chain of loving brotherhood.

VI. LORD OF THE STATE.

1. Decreeing justice to all.

2. Bringing law into harmony with Divine teaching.

3. Lifting up the poor and abasing the proud.

4. Rebuking the evil doers, and overturning all iniquity.

VII. LORD OF THE WORLD.

1. Driving back the darkness.

2. Destroying false religion and bringing in the true.

3. Making the world like heaven.Conclusion: That Lordship of Christ will not let us put on and put off religion with our Sunday clothes. It bids us take Christ with us, not merely to religious work, but so to take Him that all work should be religious. It calls upon Christians to be the subjects of Christ everywhere; to obey Christ in business, in the home, in politics, in reading, in talking, in laughing, in giving, in dying. There is a majesty about this name that men have not yet felt.

(S. Pearson, M. A.)

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KJV: Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.

WEB: Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, which you now see and hear.