and I ask, Who are these arrayed in white, and whence came they? And the answer comes, "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes," &c.

Let me remind you again, that you have only, like Aaron, penitentially to confess your sins over the head of the sacrificial victim, in order to have them borne away for ever.

SUBJECT:-The Christian's Great Aim.

"To them who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life."-Rom. ii. 7.

Analysis of Homily the Six Hundred and Fifty-second.

CHRISTIANS are remarkable for their high aims and

wonderful forethought. Some men do not provide for the future at all. They live in the present and have no aim beyond. They thus make themselves less than the lower animals; and the results of this conduct are often fearful. Others, again, provide for the little uncertain future of this life; and hence they seek money, and fame, and power, and pleasure. But Christians not only provide for the little future which we call time, but for all the future. foresight, and make provision for all eternity.

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I. THE OBJECT OF THE CHRISTIAN'S PURSUIT. Christians seek? They seek a crown. They seek dóla, and τιμὴ, and ἀφθαρσία. The crown which they seek therefore is a triple crown. It is a crown of "glory and honour and immortality." But is not this mercenary? Does not this reduce their virtue to a thing of hollow utility? That it does not will appear if we consider their motive. Motive colors human action, and stamps it with a character of goodness or badness. For instance a murderer draws blood, and a physician draws blood. The action is the same in both cases. But the one draws blood to kill, the other to cure. In like manner Christians seek dóža, and Tμn, and aplapoia, with the chief design of glorifying God with them.

Their great aim is that they may serve God day and night in His temple, unweariedly, uninterruptedly, perfectly and perpetually. They seek crowns of "glory and honour and immortality," that they may cast them at Jesus' feet.

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First: They seek a glorious position. dóžav, "glory," "majesty." The Hebrew equivalent is kavod. The inhabitants of heaven are all glorious within, and all glorious without. All is glorious above them, beneath them, and all around them. When they walk, it is amid scenes of glory; when they sit, it is upon thrones of glory; and as they sit, crowns of glory are flashing from their brows.

Secondly: They seek the highest praise. ryǹv, “honor." The corresponding Hebrew word is hadar. dóta and run are like each other, and yet unlike. There is unity and variety in heaven. In the do, the absolute predominates; in the Tμn, the relative. Tu, "price," “value,” "honor." The honor of heaven is of the highest kind. Courtiers have spent months and years to insinuate themselves into the special favor of their king; while the great majority of the human race have not spent a single hour in seeking the smile of God. And yet to have the approbation of the highest potentate of earth, is nothing compared with the approbation of the King of Glory. It is to have the esteem of the Highest, the Holiest, the Wisest, and the Best.

Thirdly They seek to hold this position and this praise in perpetual possession. ȧplapolav, "incorruptibility." The crown which Christians seek has in it the gem of immortality. aplapotá, refers not so much to the resurrection body-not so much to moral excellence as to δόξα and τιμή. δόξα and Tun will walk together through eternity; and as they walk, they shall wave palms glittering with the dews of immortal bliss. There is here a contrast between the things of earth and of heaven. Here, the leaf must wither and the flower must die; there, the leaf is evergreen and the flower amaranthine. Here, the tooth of time triumphs over the grandest idol temples of human trust, and turns them to dust; there, the minstrels of redeeming love engage in a worship which has no stain, no interval, and no end, in the temple of eternity.

II. THE MEANS EMPLOYED IN ORDER TO OBTAIN THIS OBJECT. First: There is the performance of good works. pyou ayabou, "good doing." This universe is an infinite conjugation of the verb "to do." And it is either conjugated ill or well. By the Christian, it is conjugated well. His life is a harmony. This "good doing" is something more than faith. Undoubtedly, faith at first is alone, as the seedling is alone in the soil. But, like the living seed, living faith brings forth in due time appropriate and abundant fruit.

Secondly: There is the patient performance of good works. Voμév, like the Hebrew kavah, means "to wait," voμeviv, therefore, signifies "patient continuance." It is "patient continuance in good doing." And "good doing" in this world is climbing the steep, often with bleeding feet. The world is not yet so Christ-like, that the followers of Christ can pass through it without persecution. Hence, while here, they require to exercise the Divine virtue of patience; and patience is true heroism.

Thirdly: There is perseverance in the performance of good works. "Patient continuance in good doing" is absolutely indispensable. For it is only those who patiently bear the cross that can triumphantly wear the crown; only those who endure to the end that secure dóta, &c. There is a twilight that tends to noon night, there is a twilight that ends in noon light. The evening twilight deepens into the darkness of mid-night, the morning twilight broadens into the brightness of noon-day Hence would we not only secure present but permanent well-being, our twilight must be the morning one. Our life must resemble the sun in his commencement, continued course, and consummation. We must travel onward and upward to "the perfect day" of knowledge, "the perfect day" of purity, and "the perfect day" of joy.

III. THE OBJECT OBTAINED BY THE MEANS EMPLOYED. Those who seek in the way described not only find what they seek, but much more. They not only find dóza, and 71⁄4μǹ, and ἀφθαρσία, but also ζωὴ αἰώνιος. “ They are made partakers of the Divine nature." They are put in perpetual possession

of Divine light, life and love; Divine peace, purity and power; Divine guidance, guardianship and glory; Divine brightness, beauty and bliss.

First: This life is pure. In heaven the rose of love has no thorn, the lily of purity no worm, the cup of pleasure no poison. The bliss of ransomed saints is as pure as the bliss of God. In heaven the white-robed choristers sing the new song of unmingled joy.

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Secondly: This life is progressive. Life here, ever tends to death; life there, to life. Here we carry the seeds of mortality and the germs of sorrow about with us; there the seeds of immortality and the germs of bliss. The Christian's immortality is not fixed, but growing. His dawns of knowledge ever become noons, and the noons the light of seven days. His streams of joy ever become floods, and the floods oceans. Thirdly: This life is permanent. The perpetuity of heavenly happiness is secured by the eternity of God. thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, Holy One? we shall not die." (Hab. i. 12.) The best bank of earth may break, and we may lose our all; the finest fortress may be reduced to ruin, and our lives destroyed. But nothing can touch the Christian's wealth nothing can hurt the Christian's life; for they are "hid with Christ in God." The perpetuity of heavenly happiness is secured, moreover, by the promise of Christ. He says, "Because I live, ye shall live also" (John xiv. 19); and, "He is faithful that promised." We know that the natural sun once stood still; but we know of no one who can affirm that Christ, "the Sun of Righteousness," has ever failed, even in a single instance, to keep His promise. In heaven, therefore, the Christian's glory cannot fade; his honor cannot be tarnished; his peace cannot be broken; his joy cannot be exchanged for sorrow; his life cannot die. His crown of life, after millions of milleniums have gone, will not only be in his possession, but will then be more beautiful, bright, and blissful than when first put on. Life in heaven is from glory to glory, from starlight to sunlight, brighter and brighter for ever and ever.

JOHN DUNLOP.

SUBJECT:-Paul's Wish to be Accursed from Christ.

"For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh."-Rom. ix. 3.

Analysis of Homily the Six Hundred and Fifty-third.

The

I. THE GRAND PRINCIPLE CONTAINED IN OUR TEXT. regeneration of human society, inducing a state of practical righteousness on earth, is the one object of God in Christ. Through the subtlety and craft of the devil, and man's guilt, the normal state of humanity, to say the least, was sadly interfered with. In again making a stand for that condition-unwilling that it should only be spoken of as that which was our stateanxious that it should still, and evermore, be regarded suchwhat should we pronounce the desideratum? Is it not this? "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son," &c. Complete selfishness is man's fall. Perfect sacrifice is his rise, or salvation. And this not only on the part of man, but also on the part of Him who was to redeem man-God's fellow. The children partook of flesh and blood; He did the same. If righteousness can be realized, He will realize it for the race. If righteousness can be realized, it must be by His own method and plan. By offering up Himself—that human and Divine self-He redeemed human nature. He showed by this act in Himself the power was equal to the required and wishedfor result. He rose the third day, and through death destroyed him who had the power of death-the devil. That was how He took away the sin of the world-man's antagonism to God— his devilish individualism. The grand sin of self was met by a force, that, step by step from Bethlehem onwards, mastered and destroyed it. The law of Christ, and not self, is the law of man. Christ gave up all to His Father's righteous and loving will. He had nothing of His own. He did nought but what He saw His Father do. There was hard suffering and battling. “If it be possible," &c. But the power and the love were there; righteousness was ever realized; sacrifice was in His heart. "Nevertheless, not my will," &c.