our hands in indolence, which we misname trust. Neither are we to be so much engaged with cultivating the inward graces of faith and submission as to ne"lect the pr~ctice of _common de~ds of kindness. Our religion may become transcondente.l, a thmg or spmtual expen<;nces and emotions, and may be in danger of soaring so high as to forf!et the work which has to be done here. But it must have hands to toil os well as wing_s to mount. Peter was foolish when ht desired to stay on the l\lount of Trausfigurat1on, for there was a poor devil-ridden boy waitina- in the plain to be healed. 2. Here is a warning against giving up work becauso "'of sorrow. Ages of persecution have seldom been ages of service. All the strength of the Church has been absorb2<l in simple endurance. And in our private sorrows we are too apt to fling a.side our tools iu order to sit down, and brood, and remember, and weep. We hold ourselves excused from tasks which otherwise seem plain duties, because our hearts are be;i.Y_\'. There is no greater mistake than to give up work because of trouble. Next to Go,l's Spirit, it is the best comforter. We feel our own burdens less when we try to help some heavy-laden brother to carry his. Our sorrow will be less and our faith more if we honestly set ourselves to the tasks, and especially to the tasks of doing good to others which lie at our hands. 3 . .All sin kills faith. "Well-doing" here may either mean beneficence or pure moral conduct. If the former, the remarks just made apply. If the latter, the principle is presented that such conduct must be associated with our committing of our souls to God, because every breach of the solemn law of right will weaken our power of faith and make a barrier between us and God. A small grain of sin will blind us; a little sin will prevent us from seeing God. A thin lilm of air binders two bodies from uniting; a thin layer of sin keeps the soul from to 11ching God. Any transgression will disturb our faith, and make it close its opening buds, as a bright cloud crossing the sun folds together the petals of some piants. There must be pure and noble deeds if there is to be any completeness and couLinuity of peaceful confidence; for, though faith is the parent of righteousness, 1ighteousness reacts on faith, and a hand foul with evil is famed thereby, so that it cannot firmly grasp the outstretched hand of Christ. Ilf. THE GROUXD OF THIS CO:t-."'FIDENCE IN THE ACTII A:t-.'D CHARACTER OF GoD. He to whom we entrust our souls is their Creator. Therefore he is strong to preserve no less thau to make, and therefore, too, he knows how much tension and strain the soul can bear, and will not overweight it, nor test it up to the breaking-point. As St. Paul says, he will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able. Where better can some precious work be put for safe keeping than in the maker's hands? Where can my soul be so secure and well than confided to the care of him who fashioned me, and measures my sorrows, knowing my frame and remembering that I am dust? He is a faithful Creator. The act of creation constitutes a relation betweer.. God and us, which imposes on ·him obligations and gives us claims on him. He has made a covenaot with his creatures in the hour when he creat€d them, which he keeps for ever. Ee is faithful, in tbat he ever remains true to himself, to his own past, and to bis articulate promises. What he has been we can rely on, and be sure that, as we have heard, so shall we Eee, and that every act of mercy and succour in the past binds him to extend the same mercy and succour to-day and for ever. So all the old history flashes up into new meaning for every poor sorrowful, trusting soul. What he has spoken be wiil udhere to, and there are promises enough for us to build absolute confi.Jence upon. No man shall ever be able to quote an assurance of his which turned out a rotten support, a rind wilhout a kernel. He is a faithful Creator. There- fore, if we "commit the keeping of our souls to him in well-doing," with the ancient prayer, "Forsake not the work of thine own hands," we too shall be blessed with t~e answer given to a hundred generations, and ful6lled to every soul that rested upon 1t, "I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of."-A. M.
Ver. 3.-" The time past:" a sermon for the last day of tl1e year. Every day and every moment closes and commences a year; yet the artificial Arrangement by which it is agreed that a year shall close at one certain fixed moment of a certain fixed day is an arrangement both convenient and contributive in many ways to our moral and r~ligious advantage. The review of the closing year is a very proper, a.nd may be a yery profitable, exercise. The newspapers review the events of the year which are of on. 1v. 1-10.] THE FlRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER. 187