little occasions necessarily arise? Did not God order them all, for they must have existed in man before he fell, and were neither caused by sin, nor will be removed with the removal of sin. If God made them, may he not be served and honoured in them as in anything else? Indeed, the very word "little" only deceives us. Little in occasion they are, not little in value. Even in occasion the difference is only relative, for to the infiniteness of God there can be nothing great and nothing small -to the omnipotence of God nothing difficult and nothing easy. God is the God of the whole man, and not the God of a part. He made all—he has redeemed all; for the body as well as the soul inherits salvation, both in the influences of the Spirit present and the prospect of glory future. He made all, he has redeemed all, and he must be served in all. Then he will bless all like the sun in the visible skies, as he throws his rays. equally upon the plain and upon the mountain; upon the mote dancing in the sunbeam and the mighty planet rolling overhead. As in nature, where God's power fills the whole creation, so let it be with man. It will be so perfectly in heaven. Our entire life will then be glorified, and every solitary breath, every sight, every sound, every touch will be happiness. So let it be here, though imperfectly as yet. His grace will consecrate our all, till on the commonest things, as on the bells of the horses in restored Jerusalem, shall be written, "Holiness to the Lord.”

III. It may be thought that the application of great truths to little things is not only difficult, but almost impossible. The difficulty may be admitted, in one sense at all events, as fully as the impossibility is denied. That a practical difficulty arises from the corruption of our hearts, and their unwillingness to submit to the control of God's good and holy will, is what all Christians know by a melancholy experience. But the fact indicates at once the source of the difficulty and its remedy. For in proportion as the heart is more and more sanctified by grace and filled with the active love of God, the difficulty will decrease. The commands of God do but require the very things which the instincts of a true and earnest love would themselves suggest. We feel no difficulty in doing what we like. When we learn to like God's will, we shall find it comparatively easy to do his will. Not but that this submission of the sanctified heart to God is ever imperfect on this side heaven, and a consistent course of obedience will never therefore cease to require effort, conflict, and a ceaseless watchfulness over our confederate foes, sin, the world, and the devil.

The best mode of surmounting this practical difficulty will best be understood when the details of the duty have been considered. It will then be seen that the path of consistency in little things is not only what a Christian ought to tread, but what he may tread, if he will. But, meanwhile, there is another difficulty first to be removed. Men may

not see how great truths can be brought into little things, or within what limits it is possible and practicable to carry our religion into the familiar duties of daily life. Yet when we come carefully to examine God's revealed Word, we find explicit directions on many points of detailed practice. It is a great mistake not to study those directions, and follow them. Many a serious error in life would be avoided; many a source of social and domestic unhappiness removed; many an act pregnant with life-long bitterness would remain undone, were men content simply and faithfully to follow God's inspired teaching. Not only do we find, especially in the book of Proverbs, specific lessons for a considerable number of little occasions, but these instances furnish a clue for our guidance in applying great truths to little things in cases not specified. A clear principle suffices to solve, indirectly, many doubtful questions of practice where no direct instruction has been given.

It is the characteristic of God's Word that it is true, not on one side but on every side, not in one relation but in all. It thus reaches on every side, like the rays of the natural day, as from the central light-bearer in the midst of the heavens they shed their light and warmth through all creation. Thus God's commandment is "exceeding broad." For there is not a relation in life, not a position, not a duty, not an affection, not a habit or emotion of the mind, for which we may not gather, by positive statement or by immediate

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inference, its appropriate lesson. God's Word is enough to make the man of God thoroughly furnished unto all good works. All that we need is wisdom to understand, and single-hearted simplicity of purpose to receive its teaching. It must be a man's own fault if he remains in want of either of these, for the Spirit of God is divinely sufficient to teach them. "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth liberally to all men and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.”

II.

Friends: whom to Choose and whom to

Aboid.

Our relations in life partly voluntary, partly involuntary— God gives to every man his place-Distinction of courtesy and friendship-The true bond-The wicked, the ungodly, the insincere, the vain, the angry man, the revolutionist-Divine cautions-Not run into temptation-Inconsistent friendships dishonourable to God, and inconsistent with Christian obligation.