him no greater sacrifices, no severer curb, no more earnest exertion; but his carnal ambition commands him, while the claims of God and immortality are dishonored and put aside.

Look at the worshipper of lust and pleasure. His vices bring upon him inevitable punishments even in this present life; but he bears them all, and braves perseverance in filthy ways, while denouncing Christian life as too burdensome and hard. Pursuing amusement, and fashion, and frolic in its varied rounds, what labor or expense in preparing for them,-what care and impatience in waiting for them,-what exhaustion and fatigue in acting out his part in them,-what lassitude. and ennui in recovering from the effects of his participation in them,-does he accept and endure; while the ways of wisdom and salvation are rejected as too repulsive, too severe.

Nay; look where you will; observe in all the world the people who are racing and struggling for its prizes; and you will see multitudes willing and ready to do, sacrifice and endure more, to win for themselves destruction, than for God, or Christ, the salvation of their souls, or the crown of everlasting life. Even professed Christians volunteer their hundreds for clubs and lodges and worldly leagues, while grudging their tens or fives to the Church of the living God.

O the inconsistencies and follies that obtain on this momentous matter! O the subtle witchery which the Arch-deceiver has succeeded in throwing over the children of men! What prize of

earth can warrant or excuse such absorption and expenditure for its attainment, which is so shortlived, so unsatisfactory, and when attained must so soon be given up? What if some are successful enough to win what they so eagerly strive for, when they must presently have done with it as completely as if they never had had it? Will that measure the real worth of life, or be a just compensation for such lifelong cares, toils, efforts, and expenditures, which, by the time we touch it, and think ourselves happy in its possession, perishes in our hands, or death comes and cuts us off from it for ever? Ah me; "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

Dear friends, there is nothing in this world that pays, blesses, and rewards, like believing, earnest and unfaltering service of God and His Christ. One who tried it at the greatest cost declares, "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come." The true Christian man, no matter what the earthly condition, is the noblest, truest, and happiest man; for he is abundantly armed for life and for death; and no reverses or surprises can rob him of his spiritual comforts or his joyous hopes.

First of all, he who earnestly and perseveringly runs this race is sure to win. It is not so in other races. They which run in them, "run all, but one receiveth the prize." Many a noble Grecian athlete, having done the utmost in his

power to succeed, had to retire discomfited and crownless, because some one else was able to outdo him. But such a thing can never happen to a faithful Christian racer. Here every one may win. Many may have the strength to distance us in the way; but the weakest, if they will only exert what strength they have, cannot fail. Here the child has an equal chance with the adult, the woman with the man, the feebly endowed with the greatest.

And the crown in this case is "incorruptible." Those leaves of olive with which the victors in the ancient games were crowned soon faded and disappeared, and all the honor and glory which they expressed. Where are those chaplets or their wearers now? Perished are they all, their names forgotten, and nothing of all they ever wore worth a farthing to them. But the prize held out to those who run the Christian race is an imperishable crown. It is a crown of life that never fades, and whose wearers are never called to lay it down.

Nor is it an unreal crown; for there are no mockeries or unrealities in heaven. It is a crown that carries with it all that a true crown signifies. Genuine Christians are princes of the blood. They are in their minority now, but destined to a glorious coronation, and to rule and reign with their blessed Lord in the principalities of eternal empire. Through the promises and revelations of God I look over into that "world to come," and I see thrones, and they sit upon them, and

ruling power is given unto them, and they live and reign with Christ in resurrection life as veritable kings of the earth bringing their glory and honor into that golden city of which the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the light.

O the grandeur and glory of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus! Contemplate it, O ye negligent, weary, and faint-hearted, and see and know the worth of a diligent and earnest Christian life. Is it any wonder that the devout apostle should wish and exhort us all to run this race, and so to run it that we may obtain?

And shall we not give heed to his encouraging admonition? To neglect the grand opportunity, and not to win in this race, is to lose the highest good of our being. The great Apostle Paul had sacrificed everything earthly to run this race, and had made sublime progress in it; yet he labored on in godly fear, lest after all he should be a castaway. What then shall be the fate of those who refuse to enter these lists, or loiter in the way, or think to carry this world with them into heaven?

Come, O Spirit of the living God, and quicken us all to spiritual earnestness, that we may each run this race, so as to receive at last the "crown of glory that fadeth not away!"

Respectful Hearing.

Sexigesima.

And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them.-EZEK. 33: 31.

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ZEKIEL was a great preacher. Fancy has pictured him as young and slender, with extended locks and stooping as if under the burden of the Lord. A visible fire was in his eye, and an invisible fire seemed to burn in his soul and inflame all his nature. ghostly earnestness possessed him; a wild beauty hung around him; and an air that said he was not long for this world added a supernatural impressiveness to his youthful aspect. He moved among his people as a saintly apparition, a sun-gilded storm in human shape, untouched by the love of maidens, unterrified by the countenances of elders, undismayed by danger or death, and pursuing his high object with an eagerness of purpose which nothing could dampen, divert, nor turn. Detained in the company of men in flesh and blood, he seemed not of them; and while walking the earth the companionship of his soul was with the cherubim of glory.