Ver. 6.-DeatA ,,. life. "But she that liveth In pleasure 11 dead while she liveth." Christianity purifies and harmonizes the whole nature of man, and assimi- lates whatever is pure in humanity to the kingdom of God, It does not destroy pure earthly joys; nay, rather it plants m:rny flowers by the wayside of life. But pleasure is often perverted by man, and in that age it had become so associated with what was coarse e.ncl came.I, that the very word " pleasure" became in the gospel a synonym for sin. We have here death in the midst of life-" that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth "--or cle.ath and life sicle by side. I. THE TIIKOBILITY WHICH CHARACTERIZES THE DEAD BODY CHARAOTERIZEB THB DBAD SOUL. There is no movement of thought towards God; no feet swift to do his will; no heart that beats in sympathy with his Law. Instinct is alive; but the brightneBB of the eye, and the music of the voice, and the activities of life, are like flowers upon graves. TI. THE INSENSIBILITY 01' THE DEAD BODY OH.A.B.ACTEBIZEB TBB DEAD SOUL. All around there may be signs of outward life. As the body lies in the churchyard, the murmuring river flows by its banks, the birds make their summer music in the trees, and men, women, and children stay to rest, and to read the inscriptions on the graves; but to all these things the sleepers in the tombs are insensible. So the dead soul is insensible to the august realities of religion, to the voice of God, and to the visions of the great day. III. THE CORRUPTION OF THE DEAD BODY CEABACTEBIZES THE DEAD SOUL. This is the dread thought in connection with death, that we must bury it out of sight. When decay commences, corruption begins; and he, who knows all that is in man, tells us that out of the sepulchre of the unrenewed heart of man come evil desires, murders, and adulteries. " They that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruptio11." These aspects of the ca.se show us tha.t, as there are graveyards in the crowded cities with all their busy life, so in the unrenewed heart of man there is de.ath in the midst of life.-W. M. S. Ver. 8.-<Jarefor the home. ., But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he bath denied the faith, and is worse than ail infidel." The gospel does not leave us with any loose ideas of responsibility. There is often • universal sentiment of goodness which finds no particular application. I. MAN !lAll '' HI!! OWN." He is to care for his own soul, He is accountable for his own influence. He is the father of his own family, and, up to a certaiu age, his will is their law. He is to provide for his own; his thought and skill and care are all to be laid upon the altar of the household. It is sad to see men sometimes flattered by the world, and welcomed to every hearth, who yet leave" their own" sli&hted and neglected at home. The gospel says that the husbaud is the head of the wife; and the gospel evidently understands the clesign of God, that man should be the hard worker and bread-winner of life. IL HE HAS A FAITH TO KEEP. What is meant here by denying the faith, and being worse than an infidel? Surely this, that the faith is meant to make us Christ-like; one with him who pleased not himself, who ministered to others, and who revealed to us that great law of love by which every Christian life must be inspired. The word " infidel" has often been used to represent mere sceptical unbelief. It really means "we.nting in faith;" and the man who, whatever he professes, doea not live out the spirit of the gospel (which sanctifies, above all things earthly, the marriage lire, and makes it the image of the union betwixt Christ and his Church), that man is worse the.n an infidel, if by infidel we mean a man who intellectually has not accepted the Christian faith.-W. M. S.
Ver. 13.-77ie busybody life. • And withal they learn to be Idle, wandering aboui from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not." Indolence is the parent of all sine, because, with evil so e,cii.ve in the world, some of its emissaries are 1ure to be wanting houseroom la our heart&. IJa.T, 1-25.] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 113