suffer for this world's comforts, it is better to remember Him who had not where to lay his head, the Good Shepherd who gave his life for the sheep, than to be suspected of any mercenary motive. When those who reap our spiritual things do not let us reap their temporal things, it is wiser to rebuke them manfully, or depart out of their city shaking the dust from our feet, if the privation can be no longer endured, than to be all the time breathing a spirit of complaint. That brooding discontent, if indulged, will gradually infect our whole ministry; and then the power and glory of our office will be gone. Rather than sink down into this state of mind, than have the sense of unrequited service grow to be a chronic disease, it would become us, like Christ and the apostles if need be, not to enter on our ministry till we have made provision for our temporal support; to be able to cultivate a farm, deliver lectures, practise some handicraft, or have other means of supplying our few temporal wants, which shall stand us in stead when they that are taught forget to "communicate with" him that teacheth. It becomes the ministers of Christ to avoid, in all possible ways, the imputation that they are hirelings; that their pastorates are simply their "livings;" that they follow their profession, just as all worldly men labor, for the sake of temporal wages. They must compel men to own that their ministry is indeed a discipleship of Him who, though rich, became poor that others through his poverty might be rich; that it is peculiarly and sublimely a labor of love; that this is its distinctive trait, wherein no other calling or pursuit, in all the world, can be compared with it.

gospel is not enough. It may be made weak through the unfaithfulness of the great body of church-members. There have been ministers remarkable for their The whole

church must

spirit of self-sacrifice in every age. Their co-operate. spirit of devotion was shorn of its power, however, because it was seen to be an exception to the general life of the church. Whatever is exceptional, among persons of the same class and profession, is apt to be regarded as abnormal. The average life of the whole body is taken as the index of its real spirit. On this ground it is that infidels ascribe the zeal of such Christians as Henry Martyn, David Brainerd, and Harlan Page, to religious fanaticism. They see in it, not a proof of the transforming power of the gospel, but a sign of mental disorder. On the same ground the martyr-spirit of the apostles is attributed to natural enthusiasm, awakened by the undue excitement of the religious imagination, and the life and death of Christ are said only to prove that he was the greatest of religious enthusiasts. This objection can be effectually answered only by a spirit of devotion pervading the church. There is a supernatural element in the Christian life, a love of sacrifice and self-denial in doing which cannot be accounted for by mere natural But this element must appear in the great body of Christians, thus forcing men to see that it is in no case abnormal or exceptional, but a uniform result of faith in Christ Jesus, or the few good works which are done will not lead them to glorify our heavenly Father. There can be no question, reasoning from the nature of the human mind as well as from history, that when the laity and clergy are one in this thing, every mouth of the gainsayers

good,

causes.

will be stopped. All men will be forced to recognize the things which are not seen, and which are eternal, in order to account for the phenomena which the life of the church will present. This general union, in filling up what is behind of Christ's sufferings, will make it impossible for the world not to confess that he proceeded and came forth from the Father.

Almost all our reliance, in meeting the doubts which scientific or speculative thinking may from time to time generate, must be on this leaven of sincerity and devotion to good works in the mass of Christ's followers; a power which we shall get only as we have Christ formed within us, and as we put on Christ day by day, so that the life which we live in the flesh shall be the life of God man

How the spirit of

Christ is to be shown.

ifested through us. To reveal him is the sublime office of all those who make up the one visible church. If we cherish a friendly feeling towards the science and philosophy of our time, that favor should be for this supreme object. If we give our godspeed to every genuine charity, that sympathy should be for one and the same purpose. If we preach the doctrines of the gospel thoroughly and with all our might, that faithfulness should have no less an end than to declare the Father's name. All our studying, all our toiling, all our self-sacrificing should be to show forth the excellency of Him who has called us; to make men see that the gospel, reproduced in the lives of Christians, is the wisdom and power of God; to prove, by the all-loving spirit which animates us, that any form of unbelief which seeks to displace Christianity is a thief and a robber.

ences.

see that infidelity is an imposture which bodes them only evil; that if admitted amongst them it would put cursing for blessing, darkness for light, corrupting selfishness for holy and heavenly charity. If we choose to be identified with one school of theology rather than another, it should be clear to all that that preference grows out of a higher consecration. Not as partisans, but the better to seek and save the lost, should we strive to organize the truths of the gospel into a compact doctrinal system. Why need we care what human name is stamped on our weapons, or from whose armory they came, if so be that they are of celestial temper, and we find them mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds? And any denominational likes or dislikes which we may happen to have, should grow out of the same high aim as our other differThey should be our instrumentalities, not our ends; chosen not for their own sake, but as the harness in which we can work most easily and effectually for Christ. In this view the variety of Christian denominations is a great advantage to the universal church. They are to be rejoiced in, so long as they do not usurp the place of the objects of the gospel, since they enable every believer, whatever his natural peculiarities, to find some place of service which shall be congenial to him. David can have his sling and stones, and Saul's mighty men their heavy armor; and thus Israel shall not divide, but greatly increase his strength against the hosts of the Philistines. Whether it be a question of theology, or of ecclesiastical polity, all should be free to choose under Christ, with the utmost charity and confidence towards each other. Souls hungering for the peace of God will be drawn to us by seeing that we have no party zeal,- no wish to build up

this or that branch of the church for its own sake, or at

the expense of some other branch, but make it our supreme concern, through whatever special fellowship we may choose to be in, to save and bless mankind.

This spirit Nothing but Christianity has ever given to peculiar to Christianity. the world such a service as this. There were faint foreshadowings of it in ancient times, and in some pagan lands men have shown a capacity for it, within certain narrow lines; but to find another Jesus of Naz areth, or another such mission of love as he founded, would be as impossible as to put another sun in the heavens. That kingdom of love and suffering, through the weakness of those to whom it has been committed, may at times have seemed untrue to its lofty tone and standard; and thus doors may have been opened for the incoming of religious error; yet under its broader aspects, and as judged by its acknowledged spirit, it has proved itself to be, all along through the Christian ages, the light and the life of men. And if we take up this kingdom in our turn, and carry it forward in the all-sacrificing spirit of the Lamb of God, any unbeliefs that may be lowering about us will swiftly disappear. It is the advancing sun that makes the snow and ice melt, the light shining in beauty that causes the darkness to flee away. Men will recoil from the arts of the infidel, in the presence of a church thus in earnest; and will hasten from him to be under its covert, instinctively choosing life rather than death, that which quickens rather than that which chills and dwarfs their noblest powers. They will turn to it as the imprisoned plant turns to the window; they will flock to it as birds fly from winter to a warmer and brighter