In view of the absolute necessity of progress to your hope of salvation, I would urge upon those of you who have entered upon the Christian life, the duty of self-examination, that you may know the position in which you actually stand. There is no security in mere assurance, and we have no ground to rest our hopes upon any past experience, while we have not present evidence that we are reaching forward to the things which are before. If we would look back to the past, let us rather recall to remembrance the fact that with every day we have added to the degree of our transgressions in the sight of God; and may this review move us to deeper humility, and firmer resolutions to press onward towards the prize of our high calling.

Before us we have the most elevated motives which can be urged upon an immortal being to animate us to progress, and we daily receive constant warnings of the danger of delay. May we no longer look back, no longer linger by the way; but with the eye of faith ever directed towards the promised reward, may we lay aside every weight, and run with patience the race that is set before us. Soon, at the farthest, our earthly course will be ended; and then, if we have proved faithful, that of unending and unmingled glory will follow. There remaineth a rest for the people of God, which none can fail to enter except through unbelief. And shall unbelief shut us out from the kingdom of God? Should not our faith, illumined

as all our pathway is by the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, at least equal theirs who only looked forward to its rising? They "received not the promise," but they "obtained a good report through faith;" and we, who are "compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses," should "lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.” Let us look unto Him who is "the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven."

XXXVI.

THE TRUE AIM OF LIFE.

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed."— 2 TIM. ii. 15.

THESE words were addressed to a minister of Christ with a special regard to the great duties of his office, and with all their fulness of meaning they apply to such as have its sacred functions to discharge. But they also embody an appeal applicable to all Christians, and present a subject for reflection which we can never ponder seriously without receiving deep and awakening impressions. They touch the very springs of the character and life, and lead at once to such self-inquiry as will suggest the question, For what am I living; what is the supreme object to which my thoughts and affections are directed from day to day? Without further introduction, I would direct your attention to them from several practical points of view.

And first, let us consider them as they set forth the great motive of all elevated and Christian action. The lives and acts of all men in their prevailing tone conform to certain guiding motives which have gained the chief influence within their hearts. These lead to great uniformity of outward effects,

and often show their power in numberless ways of which the individual may be entirely unconscious. Even in those many cases in which men seem to be acting from no definite motive, or from several which are hardly distinguishable, there will still, to a close survey, be found to exist some controlling influence which has prompted their conduct. Men may live in such an unreflecting manner that they do not themselves have any distinct impression as to the principal purpose of their lives. But this ignorance gives no evidence that they are not under the absolute control of some powerful impulse, imparting its decided character to their thoughts and desires, their tastes and habits. And there is one broad and marked distinction among men in respect to the tone of their lives, which springs from an equally marked and essential difference in the motives and purposes of their hearts. Men are seeking to live with direct regard to the will and approval of God, or they have some lower aim. The spirit of their lives is such as either directs their thoughts heavenward, or fixes them with absorbing interest on this world and its perishable objects. Men are never in a neutral position in this respect. They are living for God and His will, or they are living for self and this world. And with the Word of God before us, and its revelation of the eternal state of the soul, its relation to God and the Saviour, its capacities for His service and infinite glory, we cannot fail to perceive that there is only one aim worthy of

an immortal being, and that is to do the will and seek the approval of Him to whom we owe life and all its blessings, to whom we must look for eternal salvation, and by whom we shall hereafter be judged. The only motive of action which is truly elevated, which can bring abiding satisfaction to a spiritual and undying soul, is that which finds its source and object in God. If we are not acting from this, we must be governed by some influence which is as widely different from it as heaven is from earth, as God is from the creature. Consider all the influences and motives which are merely earthly and temporal in their origin, and how do they sink into insignificance, or are stamped with the character of selfishness or meanness or vileness, as they are brought into contrast with that of a deep desire to do the will and seek the approval of the all holy and wise and merciful God! Some of these are rendered attractive and alluring by those rewards which are regarded as most valuable and ennobling in this world, such as wealth, knowledge, power, fame. These form the highest objects of mere earthly desire; but when secured to the utmost, how low are they regarded as the supreme object of the life of man compared with duty to God, leading to devotion to His will and to the good of man. When you mention the love of wealth, or of power, or fame, or knowledge, the highest and most weighty earthly motives are enumerated, all right when kept in entire subordination