sudden alarms, and lawless assaults, and dreadful miseries.

But it may be said that our commendations are surely too high and too unqualified—that we have been putting out of view for the time that which is far higher. Does it become those who believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ to forget that it is a blessing above every other; and that without it, in the present fallen state of the world, all other appliances for the raising of man to the enjoyment of true and lasting happiness would be vain? We are not forgetting it. The Gospel is indeed above all price. There is nothing once to be compared in worth with the message from heaven to be communicated to all sinners on earth, of every rank and age-that God is willing to receive them, to pardon them for Jesus' sake, to purify them by His grace from all evil, and to prepare them for an everlasting inheritance in another and a better world on high. God forbid that any of us should ever forget the Gospel, or allow anything to stand before it for a moment in our estimation! But as the best food could not benefit us unless we were at liberty to use it, so even the Gospel would be valueless to the world if we had no freedom to proclaim it. How comes it that no

one in this land can dare to disturb our Christian assemblies? How comes it that all the people of this land, to whatever denomination of Christians they may belong, are at liberty to come together and to worship God according to their consciences in perfect peace and security? How comes it that for many generations the people of this country have not only been protected in their use of Christian ordinances, but that they have had those ordinances provided for them freely by means of national resources ? Is it not because the rulers have been brought to acknowledge that their highest duty is to honour the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and the Lord of lords; and that the best means by which they can seek to gain the object of their appointment-the order, and peace, and wellbeing of the community-is to promote the knowledge of revealed truth? Is it not because they are thoroughly persuaded that the more enlightened men are with the principles of the Gospel of Christ, and the more consistently they walk in the footsteps of their Divine Master, they are the better citizens? It was not always So. The time was when even in this country of ours Christians were persecuted for the faith they held and desired openly to profess. Ought

we not to be ever grateful that God in His providence has brought about such a happy change? Ought we not to praise Him that the days of which He spake to His people of old have dawned upon us, when kings have become nursing-fathers and their queens nursing-mothers of the Church of Christ?

Seeing, then, that kings, and all that are in authority, do so much for our welfare, how reasonable it is that God should call upon us to do the best we can for them! We ought not only to honour and to obey them; but as they are the means of conferring so great and so essential blessings on us, we ought to seek, if in our power, to impart blessings to them. It is in the power of only comparatively few, no doubt, to benefit them directly and personally; but it is in the power of all to ask the Author of every good and perfect gift to bestow upon them according to their need the tokens of His favour and grace. He who so plainly calls upon us in His Word to pray for them, will not mock us by refusing to hearken to our supplications. If their continued life, and health, and wisdom, and might, and faithfulness be of great moment for their welfare and for ours, and for the welfare of the world at large, He from whom all

these blessings come will graciously bestow them at our call. Were we not thus to own God as the Supreme Disposer, by whom kings reign and princes decree justice, would He not be treating us as we deserved, if He took away from our posts of authority the wise, and the mighty, and the faithful, and left us to go down to speedy destruction under the guidance of men foolish in counsel and weak and corrupt in the administration of affairs? Surely that nation which, in the pride of its strength, fails to look up humbly and believingly to God as the fountain of all its blessings temporal and spiritual, stands on slippery ground, and is not far from its fall and ruin. Let us own His hand in the great things which He has done for us; and let us never cease to pray to Him that all who are set in authority over us may be wise, and just, and good.

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X.

THE DUTY OF HONOURING ALL MEN.

"Honour all men."-1 PETER ii. 17.

THE attitude which our spirits ought to hold towards our fellow-men is here expressed

in a single word.

In the

God requires us to honour them. Sometimes persons in special positions are pointed to as objects of honour. fifth commandment it is said, "Honour thy father and mother;" and in the last clause of the verse before us it is said, "Honour the king." But here it is said, "Honour all men." All without exception are to be regarded by us with esteem, whether they be nearly related to us or not, whether they be placed in authority over us or not. The precept is-"Honour all," young and old, low and high, far and near.

At first sight this is apt to appear too com