was a brave thing to do; for the Jews were a conquered race. But it was the right thing to do ; for to deny his people would have been the height of cowardice. What does profession involve at the present day? Is it simply a tacit avowal that we are O~ristians? Surely m?st_p~ople will go tha~ l~ngt~. It must, therefore, imply some- thmg more than that, if 1t 1s to serve as a d1stmct10n amongst us. It means 1 in fact an open confession of our attachment to Christ, by identifying ourselves, in som~ way or other, with his Church. To the true Christian profession is a necessity. 1. It ia a dutywhi,ch he owes to himself. Secret discipleship may be possible under very exceptional circumstances; but it must be most disadvantageous for the development of spiritual power. A plant may grow in the dark, but it cannot attain its foll prc>- portions, or put on its robe of beauty, without the light of day. The surest way to overcome temptation is to declare your principles. By the very act you will add to your own strength and weaken the power of the tempter. It was the attempt to disguise himself that led Peter to his fall. 2. It is a duty which he oweJJ to the VXYl'ld. He has found peace himself, and will he hide its source from the troubled heart~ among whom he lives? The Divine light has been kindled within him, and will he place himself under a bushel? The misery, the darkness, the sinfulness of the world constitute the world's claim upon his services, nor can he render the highest services except as a professed servant of Christ. 3. It is a duty whuh he oweJJ to God. God requires it. No shame, or suffering, or loss should, therefore, make us hesitate in reference to this matter. Our Lord declared that whosoever was ashamed of him in his humiliation he would be ashamed to own when he came in his glory. Il. MORDECAI'S CONSISTENT CONDUCT. The king's servants endeavoured to persuade him to change his attitude, but he would not. 11 He hearkened not unto them." He was a witness-bearer, a martyr, and possessed a martyr's courage. Having professed himself to be a Jew, he would make good his profession by adhering to the right. Profession alone is worse than worthless. It injures the professor himself, and the cause with which he claims connection. " Faith without works is dead.'' 1. To act i,s admittedly more dijfi,cult than to profess. Had Mordecai merely professed himself a Jew, while he behaved like a Gentile, he would probably have experienced no diffi- culty. Haman would have been satisfied with his homage, and his comrades would have commended his prudence. To say, 11 Lord, Lord," is one thing ; but to do " the will of the Father '' is another. There is no grandeur in maguificent words, except when they are backed up by noble deeds. Heroism consists not so much in declaring war as in fighting the enemy. 2. .Men learn, more easily "by example than by precept. Hence the immense importance of consistent conduct, when we consider its influence upon others. If Christianity had never succeeded to produce Christians -if it had set up a high ideal which no one ever attempted to approach-it would have remained to this day a dead form; and no amount of learning, or reasoning, or eloquence could have persuaded the world to accept it. Men may argue against creeds, but the holy lives which those creeds help to fashion are unassailable.-R.
Ver. 2.-The perfectwn of steadfastness. "But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence." This book of Esther abounds in revelation of human nature. It has been much remarked upon as not containing the name of God. Furthermore, it has nothing of strict doctrine in its technical and theological sense. Neither does it lay itself out to exhibit the great spiritual facts which arrest the attention of the Bible reader in other portions of it. It does not refer with any explicitness to the unseen, to the great future, to the "that day" of the epistles. On the other hand, it is wonderful in the various exposition it offers of human nature. To history, indeed, its matter is confined. But that history seems to pursue its object with undeviating exactitude of aim. Through impartiality of selection and fidelity of description it advances, awarding its pre,sent verdicts to those on the left hand, or to those on the right. We have already considered the illustration it offers of a noble refusal on the part of a woman, on an occasion when to refuse was both undoubtedly right and undoubtedly the cause of much suffering and loss. We have here an illustration of the noble refusal of a man, right against the enormous foroe of the current of the whole world around him. Consistently with his race, his education, hie religion, it ie not merely, 118 in the case just alluded to, in 1'2 (,R THE BOOR OF ESTHER. Len. 111. 1--6.