entitle them to a participation in the benefits of his death, and they doubt if their imperfect services will reach the required amount. They need not, for certain is it, that when they have done all, they will be found unprofitable servants. Of those who have received the gospel, and know the way of salvation by Christ alone, some are agitated by fears lest they should lose this pearl of price, and depart from the path of life on which they believe that they have entered. This is indeed an agitating doubt, and can only be relieved by Scriptures such as these:"My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." Having loved his own which are in the world, He loved

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them to the end." Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it unto the end." "Who shall also confirm you, to the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." For such, by the light of Scripture, I see nothing but certainty. If we stand

by any strength, by any perseverance of our own, we shall fall certainly; if by the unchangeableness of God's love and purpose, we as certainly shall stand fast. There are others, and too many, who are not certain of their safety, because they are not certain of their choice: they know where the treasure is hidden, and have agreed for the purchase of the field, but when they should be taking possession, they are haggling for the price. They love Christ with such a divided heart, they are never sure whether they love him sufficiently—whether they do not love something else better. They walk so near to the line of demarcation by which the children of God are separated from the children of this world, that though they mean to keep on the right side, they cannot always discover where they are. Far be it from me to say that they ought to feel secure. But "how long halt ye between two opinions?" Why not decide? Put away the gods many and the lords many that so divide your heart: walk farther from the line of separation you see

so indistinctly; make your calling and election

sure; choose this day whom you

you

will serve.

There is a certainty even in your condition; for as certainly as the word of God is true, you cannot do both; you cannot serve God and mammon. "If any man love the world, the love of God is not in him." "The friendship of the world is enmity against God."

Thus much is plain. Whatever be the causes of uncertainty respecting the state of our souls, and whatever the means by which assurance is to be obtained, it is evident from Scripture that such an assurance is to be enjoyed. As St. John speaks: "Hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit that He has given us." Again: "We know that we are born of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness." "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true; and we are in Him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life."* And

* 1 John v. 19, 20.

St. Paul: "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God."* And David: "Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth." Until such an assurance of salvation be obtained, the Christian cannot enter into this portion of the Saviour's joy. It is only when he knows his sins are pardoned, that "his heart will be glad, and his glory rejoice, and his flesh rest in hope. As David speaks: "My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee, and my soul which thou hast redeemed. And St. Peter: "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein we greatly rejoice." And our Lord: "Rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Indispensable to such joy is a sense of sin and sin's desert, with a knowledge of Christ and of his work; of God's justice to condemn, and his mercy to save. As our sense of these increases, our joy increases.

And then what

delight it is! At times so overwhelming, the

* Rom. viii. 16.

soul seems incapable of more. Have the children of this world ever tasted it? Has the cold moralist tasted it? Let them be honest to themselves;-they know they never have.

Add to this the future; "In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore. What will not the ambitious of this world sacrifice for the future-the vague, uncertain, perishable future? With an object of sufficient interest in view, and the prospect of obtaining it, men pass contentedly through days of toil and nights of unrest-no suffering too much, no sacrifice too great; set but a scheme of future bliss before them, the present is absorbed, annihilated. Without it, without a prospect or an object, ease itself becomes insupportable, possession satiates, the soul sickens and loathes its plenitude. There is not on earth a more miserable being, than he to whom the world has given all, but has no more to promise. A French writer has said, if she might ask one boon of Heaven for herself, before all things she should choose to be se