below; there ls me.ny e. slip e.nd many a fa.lee step, but then there iB much honourable e!Tort e.nd much spirUue.l earnestness recognized and owned by the p,itient Father of spirits. III. TnE PRAOTI0AL OONOLUBION for which we must be prepared. "Every tree is known by hie own fruit." "By their fruits ye she.II know them." Men must form their judgment a.bout us; and they must judge us by the lives they witness. If, therefore, we do not manifest e. Christian temper and a loving spirit, if righteoUB prin- cipl'!s are not visible in our daily dealings, if we do not give evidence of carin" more for truth and for God and for the establishment of his holy kingdom on the° earth than we care for our own temporal prosperity or present enjoyment,-we must not com- plain if men count us among the ungodly. Our godliness, our spirituality, c,ur recti- tude, ought to shine forth clearly and unmistakably from our daily life. IV. 'fHE PRACTICAL TRUTH which we must apply to ourselves-that, if we would live e. life of uprightness in the sight of God, we mnst be right at heart in his esteem. lt must be out of the fulness of our soul that we do right actions; it must be out of "the abundance of the heart that our mouth must speak " bis praise and his truth ; or our proprieties of behaviour e.nd our suitableness of language will weigh nothing whatever in his balances. The first thing for every man to do is to become right in his own heart with God; to return in spirit unto him; to go to him in humility and in faith; to find mercy of him in Jesus Chri~t, and, having thus entered into sonship, to live the life of filial obedience to his Word; then and thWI will the good tree bring forth good fruit.-C. Vers. 46-49.-Good and ba<J building. In the moral and spiritual as well as in the material world there is goud and bad, sound- and unsound, safe and unsafe bui1ding We are all builders; we are all planning, preparin,;, laying our foundation, erecting our walls, putting on our topstone. I. THE FABRIC OF ENJOYMENT OR OF SUCCESS. That of enjoyment, of the gratifica- tion of indulgence, is indeed hardly worthy of the name of building; yet are there those who spend upun it a very large amount of thought and labour. To pursue this as the object qf life is unworthy of our manhood, is to dishonour ourselves, is to degrade our lives; it is to expend our strength on putting up a miserable hovel when we mi:,1ht use it in the erection of a noble mansion; it is, a.Lio, to be laboriously con- structing a heap of sand which the first strong wave will wash away. Worthier than tbis, thongh quite unsatisfying and unsatisfactory, is the pursuit of temporal pro- sperity, the building up of a fortune, or of a great name, or of personal authority and command. Not that such aims and efforts are wrong in themselves. On the other hand, they are necessary, honourable, and even creditable. But they are not sufficient; tliey are wholly inadequate as the aspiration of a human soul and the achievemeut of a human life. They do not fill the heart of man; they do not give it rest; tl,ey leave a large void unfilled, a craving and a Jearniug unsatbfied. Mureover, they do uot stand the test of time; they are buildings that will soo" be wushed away. The tide of tirue will soon advance and swe,·p away the strongest of such edifices as those. Do uot be content with building for twenty, or forty, or sixty years; build for eterniLy. "The world passeth away . . . b11t he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." II. 'l'HE FORTRESS OF 0HARACTER. It is of this that our Lord is speaking in the t.ixt; and he says concerning it--Dig deep, build on the rock, erect that which the most violent storm cannot shake to its fall. What is that character which answers to this counsel? 1. Not that which is founded on ce:remony and rite. Ueason, Scripture, and experience all prove that this is a character built upon the sand. 2. Not that which is founded upon sentiment or occasional emotion. Many are they who like and who demand to be act<·d upon by powerful influences, and to be thus excited to strong feelings. In these moments of aroused sensibility they cry, "Lord I Lord!" with 11pparent earnestness. But if piety ends in sensibility" it is nothi11g; " it is worthless; it will be washed away by the first storm that brtaks. 3. It is that which is estab- lished in sacred conviction and fixed determination. This is the rock to which we must dig duwn -s11cred conviction p11ssing into real consecration; the conviction thl\t we owe everything to our God l\nd Saviour, and the Jetermination, in the sight aud by the grace of God, to yield our hea.rts and lives to him. A character thLts built, 164 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [ou. TI, 1-49.
~nstained hy ChristiRn services Rnd ceremon!e11, will be strong agRinst l\ll MBRult. The subtlest influences will not undormino it, the mightiest earthly forces will not overturn it; kt the storms come, and it will stand. lll. Tmt EDIFICE oF CHRISTIAN USEFULNESS. Paul, In hie first letter to the Church at Corinth, speaks of the wood, hay, 1md stubble, Rnd alBo of gold, silver, and precious ftones, t.e. of the combustible and the inflammable materials with which men construci their building in the field of holy service. } nd he BRys the fire will try every man's work ; so thRt we ban apostolic warning also to take heed how we build. Let tbo <1hrietian workman see to it that he too builds on the rock, that he effects that which will stand the waJ:.ers and the fires that will try bis work, Let him dopend little on ceremonialism, lit.tie on excitement; let him strive to produce deep, sacred convictions in the eoul; let him endeavour to lead men on to a whole-hearted dedication of them- selves to JesUB Christ; let him persuade men to the formation of wise habits of devotion and self-gonrnment; so shall he be building that which the waters of time will no~ remove, and which the last fires will purify but not destroy.-O.