God, when your life which is hid in Christ. shall be revealed, you will find that you were guarding, and purifying, and perfecting a member of Christ, and working with and by His Spirit. Whatever duty God has appointed you, in that you may live to God, and have communion with Him.

The life of the great man upon earth comes to an end, and his place knows him no more; but whatsoever you do toward God abides with Him, abides in your own soul, abides for ever. Be wise then, and be earnest, to live that life in which you partake of God's own eternity, in which you are united to His love, and likened to His glory.

Carnal and worldly men may not see this glory from without, but the spiritual mind knows and honours it, the Angels of God rejoice in it, the true and faithful soul comes in time to be conscious of it, and to rejoice in the witness of the Spirit that it is indeed the child of God.

The penitent sinner comes to know it when he learns to give himself wholly to God, when he ventures upon faith to sever the last link that binds his will to earth. Then he, too, begins to realize what it is to be a child of God, how great is the glory

and the blessedness of being His, and standing for Him in this world. Humbled he must still be, though he knows that the least thing done in God, and for God, is an act of true communion with the Majesty on high. For it is humbling to be in a presence of which we know we are not worthy, and the greater he is to whom we draw near, the more reason is there to draw near humbly. But he that so humbles himself shall be exalted, and that not only for once and for a moment, but with God in His everlasting kingdom.

He Who came to give and to perfect this Heavenly Gift was rejected by carnal men, and called a blasphemer, and persecuted as the enemy of God and of mankind. And such may be the lot of those who follow Him; for they that walk in a vain shadow "hate the true light, because their deeds are evil.":

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The world does not like to have it said how near God is come to us. It would rather go on its own way, and enjoy its own earthly glories and carnal pleasures, and when we stand up for the kingdom of God it will even tell us we blaspheme, and say that God is too high to mix Himself up

» S. John iii. 19.

with the things of earth, as we say, and that those who say they are sent by Him take too much upon themselves.

But let the child of God persevere, for he is in the hand of his Heavenly Father, and none shall be able to pluck him away. God is his, and he is God's own, and shall be kept unto life everlasting. Once for all "cast your care upon Him, for He careth for you ;" and commit your soul to His keeping, as a faithful Creator. So do, and so abide, and you are safe in life and in death, partakers of a Divine life, a life that never dies.

And now to Him in Whom we live, and move and have our being, to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, be all glory, majesty, dominion and power, now

SERMON XVIII.

S. John xvii. 3.

"And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent."

You know when these words were spoken. It was a solemn time, when our Lord had just given His last charge, and warning, and consolation to His sorrowful disciples, just before He went out to the place of His agony. Then He lifted up His eyes to Heaven, and said, "Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee: As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. this is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent." One would like to go on, and to repeat the rest of His blessed Words; for when we hear the Son of God speaking to His Father, it seems good to be where such Words can be heard, and we would fain so abide, and listen yet awhile longer. For He speaks not, in His invisible Godhead,

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of things that are too deep for us to hear, but as Man, in our own nature, of things that much concern us. He speaks of that eternal life which He came on earth to bestow on such as should believe in Him. To give it us was the end of all His work on earth, and now that He is finishing that work, He speaks to the Father of it, in the hearing of His Church, that His Church may be one in mind with Him, and may come to be presented by Him to the Father, with the same devout and loving will toward the glory of God which He Himself had in sanctifying Himself as man, and in suffering for us. And if we would learn, with all His saints, "what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge," we must not only listen to His Words, as to a "very lovely song," but must apply our hearts and understandings to them, and strive to follow where He would lead our thoughts. And since the speech is, as it were, in Heaven, for it is the speech of God the Son, in our flesh, to His Father, Who is also our Father, as we are in Him, we must expect to find in it things of Heaven, things that we cannot receive while we set our affections on this » Eph. iii. 18.

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b Ezek. xxxiii. 32.