little sin; or (what is the same thing) if I permit myself this short suspension of spiritual growth and advancement;" for of course every neglect of duty, as well as every act of sin, is a suspension of spiritual growth -no one can be growing in grace who is not doing right. I do not now inquire whether any sin against GOD can be measured by any human gauge, of large or less; but supposing, what I dare not grant, that one little neglect, one short abeyance of spiritual life, can do no great harm, I will but ask this, as apposite to growth and ripening in grace;-If you heard a husbandman or a florist talking thus of his fruitage or his plants:-" It can be no great mischief that for once I fail to water them; to leave them unsheltered for one night can be no harm; one single week's indolence, though I leave spade, and pruning-knife, and weeding instrument untouched, cannot be fatal"perhaps not. I cannot tell. It might be difficult to measure the amount of mischief done by one single neglect of culture, or of watering, or warmth. But which of you that heard a man so speak would believe that such neglects were likely to be few or trivial ?-who would doubt that they would multiply and accumulate ?-which of you would hire such a man for your servant?-which of you that heard him thus idly plead for individual neglects would hesitate to say, that those neglects would increase in number and extent, and, though he had acres of oliveyard, and vineyard, and of costly plants, yet that, however the kindly forces of nature might befriend him for a year or two, let but a few years pass, and to him spring would come leafless, summer without bloom, his autumn barren, and his winter famished? And is man's spiritual nature so hardy and so healthy a thing, that it needs less culture than the most delicate flower from the tropics? Is even one single suspension of growth likely to do no

mournful damage to a plant so frail? And IF even one single neglect (deliberate neglect I mean) might be of so slight mischief as to be passed over in the account, are you not sure, that he who calmly and with no misgiving pleads for it, is in a downward way?—that his omissions are likely to accumulate-his heart to harden, and therefore his salvation to be in peril? Not that the mercy of GOD is ever withheld from the penitent, but that repentance becomes less probable with every presumptuous sin.

For, blessed be the name of GOD, there is this point in which the resemblance fails between our souls and those natural images under which their progress is set forth. Five minutes of real suspension, and human life is gone. As many hours of separation from its nourishment, and the flower flourishes no more. As many days uprooted from its soil, and it is not likely that the hardiest tree will ever bear leaf and fruit again. But the mercy of GOD endureth for ever. His long-suffering is so great, that it would be presumption in us to define its limits. He is "strong and patient”—as patient as he is strong, though he "is provoked every day." He is of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil. We have an Advocate, that pleads even for the fruitless vine:-"Let it alone for this year also, and if it bear fruit then it is well." Therefore let none fear, if he come in repentance and faith to CHRIST, that he will be in anywise cast out. Let him only fear, that every deliberate neglect to grow in grace will make his desire to come to CHRIST less probable. And let him tremble to indulge in any presumptuous pause in his advancement, not only lest it should become a deep and deeper habit to be dwarfed and fruitless, but lest at any moment, ere he thinks, the irresistible sentence should come forth, "Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?"

Let us remember, too, that it is peculiarly true of vegetation, that its culture must be managed with reference to seasons. Men do not in the world of nature transpose the various duties of the seasons. They do not plough and plant in summer-weed and prune in autumn -reap in winter. Hence, let us learn at every hour and season to do the proper duty of the time; not taking thought for the morrow, but trusting to GOD that he will teach us the duty of to-morrow when it comes, and give us strength to do it. There is a time for all things. There is a time for fast and festival-to laugh and weep. There is a time for joy; and grief will make itself a time. Work-worship-rest-all these will take their turn; and all, if duly used under the blessing of the LORD of all, will be concurrent to the one great object-" Grow

Remember, finally, that we are all children baptized into CHRIST's household, and are to grow to the full stature of Christian character; all runners in that race, which, if we abandon, we must lose the prize; all warriors, who must fight for the cross if they would wear the crown. For at our birth the triple armies of Sin, the World, and the Flesh, sent forth their champion, Satan, to fling down the gauntlet, and in baptism we took up the gage, and swore to be CHRIST's faithful soldiers and servants to our lives' end. We are all plants in the vineyard, placed there to grow and ripen, till the Lord of the harvest shall come to claim his own, and gather it, if it have grown and ripened, into his everlasting garner. And of whatever earnest faith you may be conscious, with whatever ardent hope possessed, whatever charity, with its self-denying obedience and endeavour, may manifest itself in your lives, still do not spurn at admonition, but remember that CHRIST'S chiefest saint-the foremost of

them all said this:-"I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of GOD in CHRIST JESUS *!"

* Phil. iii. 13, 14,

FORSAKING THE ASSEMBLING OF OURSELVES.

BY THE

REV. LANCELOT SHARPE, M.A.,

PREBENDARY OF ST. PAUL'S, AND PERPETUAL CURATE OF ALLHALLOWS STAINING.

HEBREWS X. 25.

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is.

THE belief of the existence of a God being once firmly

infixed in the mind; whether by the deductions of reason, or (which is far more probable*) from tradition derived from our first parents; the obvious and immediate consequence is, the acknowledgment of His power and goodness, and the wisdom and expediency of our propitiating the one and conciliating the other. Hence we find that in every nation prayers were addressed to that object, whatever it might be, whom they conceived to be the Supreme Being.

But as man stood in a double relation to his Maker; not only as a private individual, but as a member of a community; public prayers and public thanksgivings were to be added to private devotions; since private praises were no due acknowledgments for public benefits. Hence arose the institution of an order of persons appointed for this purpose; temples dedicated to the service of their deities, and sacrifices and a form of worship, to deprecate their anger or engage their favour. Thus far even the light of natural religion directed men.

* See ELLIS On the Knowledge of Divine Things. VOL. III.

M