of holiness and order, that is, in ceasing to be the world, and being taken up into the will of God. Besides the grosser kinds of sensual and spiritual evil, this world has a multitude of refined and subtil powers of enmity against the Divine will. There is, besides the lust of the flesh, also the lust of the eyes; the vain-glory, pomp, glitter, ostentation of ease, luxury, and self-pleasing; and there is, moreover, the pride of life, the stately selfworship, the fastidious self-contemplation of intellectual or secular men. And with this comes also a throng of less elevated sins, -levity, love of pleasure, full fare, a thirst for money, a hunger for popularity, and its debasing successes. These things steal away the heart, and make men false to their Heavenly Master. Their obedience becomes habitually double, vain-glorious, self-advancing; or heartless, hollow, and reluctant. If they do not by express acts betray Him, it is either because they are not tempted, or because they would lose in the scale of the world's esteem or in their own. Surely there must be something highly incensing to our Heavenly Master in such earthly hearts, all fair outside, but eaten out by the world even to the core.

3. Let us, then, learn farther, that obedience in His name, for His sake, and in His sight, is the only obedience which is stedfast and persevering.

It is the only obedience that is sincere. No other obedience springs from the heart. This is a principle not to be swayed by custom or reputation, or by the maxims and eyes of men. It is always the same, in every place, season, and state. All other motives change with our outward circumstances, with the judgments, tone, wishes, suggestions of those about us. But this is internal, self-supported, and unchangeable. And as it never changes, so it is ever gaining strength, ever advancing, uniting the whole power of the mind in one aim and force, binding all the affections of the heart about the conscience and the will, ever growing in self-command, in the pure happiness of conscious sincerity, and in the sensitive discernment of a tender conscience.

In such a character all the complex motives of daily life are sanctified. The one governing purpose, that is, to do all in the name of Christ, consecrates them all. The healthy play of all pure and natural affection is not crossed, but perfected by the control of a higher principle. God has made man's heart manifold in its thoughts and emotions; and for all these He has ordained a manifold counterpart in the scheme of perfect obedience. No doubt, when Solomon saw the Temple of God rising in silence and beauty, a multitude of thoughts stirred within him. The stately shafts

and polished corners, the sculptured chapiters, and elaborate grace of the house, which was "exceeding magnifical," filled his eye and soul with forms of beauty, and suggestions of more than visible perfection. There was a pure and hallowed pleasure distinct from the one presiding consciousness that all this was for the dwelling of the Most High God. So in all the sphere of our life. In our homes and relative affections, in our lawful use of God's good creatures, in our honest labours, in our temperate ease, in all works of mercy and devotion; though a complex multitude of thoughts and emotions work upon us, it is but the various movement of one manifold and mysterious nature, created in the image of Him Who, though manifold, is One. All these motives are pure in His sight, and all accepted of Him for Christ's sake, in whose name our highest and governing purposes are all conceived. There is no discord so long as they are subordinate. As all harmony, however intricate, has some one tone high and dominant, by which all are united in a perfect strain. And this chief aim, if not always consciously before us, yet may be always habitual in our minds. The presence of Christ may be our ruling motive, even when the thought of His presence is, for a time, suspended. We do not cease to be affected by the will of a friend, though we be not always looking

upon him. Sometimes the very depth and fulness of our habitual feeling makes us less conscious of its detailed and momentary action. Like the power of sight and hearing, we do not reflect upon them while we hear and see; or like the fondest affections, which are seldom uttered, so taken for granted as to be passed by in silence, never transgressed, though never abstracted from the thoughts and words which flow from them all day long.

This, then, is our law of life in this confused and perilous world. It will be good to try ourselves daily by this rule. The first thing in the morning, offer all your intentions and all the works of the day to God. During the day, renew this intention by intervals of prayer, or by momentary aspirations. Before you begin any new work, ask,-"Am I doing this for His name? Can I do this in His sight? Will He accept this as done for His sake? Can I ask His blessing upon it? blessing upon it? Can I offer it up to Him?" If you are met by difficulties, renew the consciousness for Whom you are at work. If tempted to impatience or to anger, or to resentment, say this holy Name in secret to yourself. If you suffer, call to mind, who suffered all for me. sake, the shadow of His

This I suffer for Him This is my cross for His

cross for mine." Be it

sickness, pain, anguish, anxiety, sorrow, solitude, it is all one; we may join it to His sorrows and

to the darkness of His Cross. In this you will find consolation, strength, guidance, ever fresh and ever near. This will keep your feet in all your ways, be they never so slippery, be they never so strait. His Name, through faith in His Name, shall hold you up. In a little while, where will be all the things that we are fretting about ? Where will be honours, wealth, power, ambition, high place, science, learning, pleasures, and refinement? Where will be home and its soft cares, its keen anxieties, its tender affections, its blinding attachments? Where will all these be, when the sign of the Son of Man shall be seen in heaven?

Live, then, in obedience to that great law which binds heaven and earth in one. All things on high worship Him; to Him all things in earth and under the earth bow the knee. The Name of Jesus is the law of angels, archangels, principalities, and powers; it is the healing of penitents, the song of God's elect. Be it your motive and your law, and it shall be your strength and stay; your shield, and your exceeding great reward.