works, a punctual, hearty and persevering application to the right work at the right time, will save much nervous exhaustion, and give intellectual vigor. Fourthly: Strength may be saved in the work of diffusing the Gospel by an enlightened policy. That policy is expressed in the commission which Christ gave His apostles after His resurrection, wherein He commands them to begin at Jerusalem; and is developed in the missionary efforts of the apostles. Had the Church in her evangelizing efforts been guided by this policy, instead of by the romance of sentimentalism, Christianity would have occupied a very different position in the world from what it does now.

by the hearing of the ear." He had heard many people talk to each other, and to him, about God. His friends, for example, and Elihu, had said much to him about the Almighty. First: This secondhand knowledge is very common. All in Christendom-most, perhaps, throughout the world, who have come to years of thought-have heard something about the Supreme in some form or other. There is a deal said about Him in our age and land. Thousands upon thousands are professionally engaged in the work. In how many counsels from parents, conversations with friends, and sermons from ministers, have we heard of Him by the "hearing of the ear." Something about Him every day falls on the ear. Very common, indeed, is this second-hand knowledge. Secondly: This second-hand knowledge is spiritually worthless. It may serve us intellectually, by stimulating and strengthening the mental powers. It may serve us socially, by increasing the value of our society. In truth, as mere citizens of time, it may serve us in many ways; but spiritually, it is without value. There is no moral virtue in it, no godly life in it. It is a visionary, not a vital thing. Its influence on the soul is that of the lunar ray, cold and

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dead, rather than that of the solar beam, warm and life-❘ giving.

II. HERE IS IMPLIED A PRIMARY KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. "Now mine eye seeth thee." The Great One came within Job's horizon. He saw Him with his own eyes, and heard Him with his own ears. First: This primary knowledge silenced all controversy. Job, under the influence of રી second-hand knowledge, had argued long and earnestly; but as soon as he is brought face to face with his Maker, he felt Him as the greatest fact in his consciousness, and all contro

versy was hushed. Experimental knowledge of God disdains polemics. It is secondhand knowledge that breeds controversies. When He shows Himself to the soul, our intellectual theories of Him appear as contemptible as rushlights in the sun. Secondly: This primary knowledge subdued all pride. There seemed occasionally something of the highminded and haughty in Job's discussion with his so-called friends. He seems to treat them at times with disdain. "Ye are wise men, and wisdom will die with you; but I have understanding as well as you." But no more of this when the primary knowledge came. "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Man, in

conscious contact with his Maker, has ever felt this, and must ever do so. Moses, Isaiah, Peter, Paul, John, all felt this.

Brother, hast thou this primary knowledge? Is God Himself thy teacher, or art thou living on second-hand information ? Not all the stars of night can reveal the sun. If the great orb of day is to be seen, he must show himself. Not all the teachers of the universe can reveal God. If He is to be seen, He must show Himself.

THE CONDITION OF THE WORLD, AND THE WORK OF THE CHURCH.

"Pulling them out of the fire." -Jude 23.

THE chapter from which these words are taken, challenges critical thought and is fraught with many striking and suggestive truths. Confining our attention to our text, we have two solemn subjects for consideration:-The condition of the world, and The work of the Church.

I. THE CONDITION OF THE WORLD. It is in "the fire." Sin, like fire, is found existing in two states, latent and active. Fire in its latent state permeates all nature; it is in the dust beneath our feet, in the air we breathe; it is in the sea, and in the sky; it is

in the water, and in the rock; it sleeps in the very ice. Fire in its active state flames on your hearths, illumines your cities, works in your manufactories, draws your carriages, glows in the sun, flashes in the lightning, and thunders in the earthquake. In sin, in one of these states, latent or active, the millions of ungodly men exist. In some it is latent; as in childhood and in those who have led a moral life.

In others it is active; as in the drunkard, the debauchee, the blasphemer, the men of rapine and of war. Sin is like fire in many respects.* First: In its diffusibility. "Behold how great amatter a little fire kindleth." It starts from its centre, and pauses not until it has touched the remotest object for which it has an affinity. Secondly: In its transformativeness. Fire turns everything combustible into its own nature. Thirdly: In its separating force. Fire is the principle in nature which counteracts attraction, and keeps the various particles

of matter at a distance. Set fire to the compactest tree, or blast the firmest rock, and the atoms will be driven wide

asunder. Fourthly In its destructiveness. Fire, whilst it cannot destroy the essence of things, destroys their forms,

* See "Homilist," Vol. I., New Series, p. 455.

their beauties, and their uses. Fifthly: In its painfulness. Fire inflicts pain. It is the element of greatest torture. It is the emblem of future punishment. Sixthly: In its extinguishableness. There is an element that can extinguish fire. Nature has provided a conqueror for this demon. Now, in sin, which is thus diffusive, transformative, separating, destructive, painful, and extinguishable, the ungodly world is living. What a condition! It is the porch of hell.

II. THE WORK OF THE CHURCH. "Pulling them out." How is this to be done? First: Christianly. With the Christian instrument, the Gospel; and with the Christian inspiration, the Spirit of Christ. Philosophically, nothing else can do it. Historically, nothing else has done it. Secondly: Promptly. There is no time to lose. The fire is burning; the longer they are in, the more terrible and hopeless their condition. While we speak, some are passing beyond the reach of help. Thirdly Earnestly. When the house is on fire, who would pace slowly and half-heartedly to the rescue of the inhabitants? There would be the rush of the whole heart and the full speed of the limb; even as Æneas bore his father upon his

shoulders out of the flames of Troy, or as the angels hurried Lot from Sodom. Fourthly: Perseveringly. The earnestness must not be spasmodic but continuous, so long as there is one in the fire. How Christ persevered. He did not fail nor become discouraged. How Paul persevered; for three years he warned every one with tears. He was willing to spend and be spent.

IN DIVINE LOVE.

"Keep yourselves in the love of God."-Jude 21.

THE expression "love of God," stands for two very different things. Sometimes it stands for God's love to man. It is our happiness to know that the Infinite is not a being of mere intellect, but of emotion as well;-that He can love, and that He does love man with a love eternal, unconquerable, and compassionate. Sometimes it stands for man's love to God. It is the glory of man that he can love the Infinite, and that, in thousands of instances, he does it. This is his perfection. The latter is the idea which we attach to the words of the text; and they lead us to consider two things.

Man is made for a supreme love. The deepest hunger of his being is for an object on which to place his affection. (2) Man is the creature of his His love is supreme love.

the queen of his intellect, the lord of his every power. It is the impulse that sets and keeps all his faculties a-going. As are his loves, so is he. (3) The only supreme love that can perfect his being, is that which is directed towards God. First: Supreme love to God alone can satisfy the reason. Intellect is bound to hold, as an axiom, that He who is supremely good should be supremely loved. God is the Supremely Good. The command to love Him, with all our heart and being, is founded in the truest philosophy of human nature. Secondly: Supreme love to God alone accords with conscience. Conscience utters her protest against the soul giving her chief affections to any other; hence the inner contentions of the soul from age to age. This contention is the battle of the race; the battle of the centuries. Thirdly: Supreme love to God alone fulfils the conditions of happiness. This we have frequently shown; nor can it be too urgently enforced on the attention of the world.*

* See "Crisis of Being," "Philosophy of Happiness.”

II. THE HIGHEST CONCERN OF BEING. "Keep yourselves." This injunction implies-(1) Being in it. Heaven is in it. All good men on earth are in it. It is in truth the very essence of true religion. (2) Possibility of leaving it. Were there no possibility of falling from it, there would be no virtue in continuing in it. Angels did fall from it. So did the first man. Agents and circumstances on this earth are constantly at work to displace men from this sublime state. But why try to keep in it? Because-First: It is the best condition for observing. (1) It secures the best medium of vision. The affections of the soul are the media through which the soul looks on all outward things. They are the glass through which it gazes at creation and God. The only affection which gives it a clear atmosphere, is supreme affection for God. All other affections so stain the glass, so darken the atmosphere, that its views are limited, indistinct, and distorted. "He that loveth, knoweth God." (2) It affords the best position of vision. So much in obtaining a view of the landscape depends not only on purity of atmosphere, but the stand-point of the observer. How little your great cities appear from the brow of some lofty mountain.

VOL. XIV.

How small the world, with all its pomps and pageantries, will appear to the soul that looks down from the love of God. It is indeed the observatory of the universe. Secondly: It is the best condition for enjoying. Gratitude, admiration, benevolence, are all elements of happiness, and these enter into the very nature of this love of God. Thirdly: It is the best condition for growing. It is just that temperature of the soul in which all the faculties can rise into their full strength and stature. Fourthly: It is the best condition for working. It is that which gives muscle to the soul, and makes it mighty through God.

FAITHFUL SAYING.

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."-1 Tim. i. 15. THEtruthfulness of this saying as related to its acceptance, is shown thus:

I. ALL TRUTH IS WORTHY OF ACCEPTATION. First: Because it gratifies man's thirst for knowledge. "What is truth?" is the expression of a longing, which increases as it is gratified, and can never be satiated. Secondly: Because it expands and ennobles his

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