The great done in his worldly business things which ought to be done, -even his religion itself may become his sin. aim of the Christian ought to be, to give to every duty its proper time, and place, and due proportion; weighing and adjusting and keeping in regularity all the various parts and seasons of worldly and religious engagements; maintaining and exhibiting the beautiful harmony of business and devotion; of the respective claims of time and eternity. At this all should ever aim, so as to leave no room for censure on either side:—the men of the world having no fault to find as to neglect or inactivity in business; and the fellow-christian none in regard to personal, domestic, and public religious duties.-4. Religion should be carried into everything:all our ordinary daily duties should be done under its influence -all performed "as to the Lord." The spirit of what Paul says to Christian servants may be transferred to all the worldly occupations of believers: "Obey in all things your masters according to the flesh: not with eye-service as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. * And, my beloved brethren, if we are impressed and influenced by the contemplation of these as we ought to be, there is a view of the service of the Lord which we shall never forget, but put into it all the active fervour of our spirits. We shall not be slothful in what I may call the business of God. We hold relations to this world; and on account of these its businesses must be industriously minded: for "if any man provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." But, as believers in Christ and subjects of his kingdom, we have relations of a still higher description. We are bound to serve the Lord by the promotion of the knowledge of his name and the advancement of the interests of his cause and kingdom in the world. We do not serve the Lord if we neglect this. tive duty of every believer. It is the first and most impera- *Col. iii. 22, 23. fluence and all our resources to the propagation of His Gospel, to the purification, independence, progress, and triumph of His kingdom, is a duty which ought to engage all the fervour of zeal. We must not allow the business of this world so to engross us, as that the business of the kingdom of Christ shall be excluded and left to others. Every believer should feel that "to him to live is Christ;"-that in whatever sphere it pleases Providence to place him, it should be, not an inquiry postponed to those which relate to his earthly and secular business, but an inquiry that takes precedence of all others-What have I in my power to do in the service of my divine Master? What can I do for Christ ?—And, my brethren, when fellow-believers, fellow-servants of the same Lord, who have been exemplary for fervour of spirit in the service of Christ, and have manifested this fervour by activity and generosity, inscribing holiness to the Lord on all their powers and on all their worldly resources, deeply lamenting, as they advanced to the close of their earthly course, that they had not done more and given more for this highest and holiest and most benevolent object-when such fellowservants are removed, is it not a call to us to seek earnestly that the fervour of our own spirits may be more than ever excited, and that by this excitement, we may be roused to greater liberality and activity than ever in "serving the Lord," in making the advancement of Christ's kingdom one of the primary objects and most interesting and persevering occupations of our life?—Let this be our practical improvement of the death of beloved and valued brethren-that we question our consciences more closely, each one of us, as to what we can do, in our respective spheres, for Christ and for perishing souls, so that, while we by no means neglect the temporal wants and woes of men, we be chiefly concerned about their everlasting interests. What can I do? Can I teach a Sabbath-school? Can I give Bibles, and distribute tracts? Can I assist, by counsel, by money, by active effort, the operations of Christian societies for the evangelization of our country and of the world? Can I visit and instruct the poor? Can I persuade any to devote themselves to mission --- ary work? Can I go as a missionary myself? What am I doing? What am I giving? How am I praying? For what purpose am I seeking the acquisition of this world's good?—is it that I may have wherewith to serve the Lord? Is this motive first or last?—if last, is this consistent with the fervour of spirit which His service legitimately requires? O my brethren, we are admonished how short our remaining time of service may be. Let us take the warning. Let us act as those dear Christian friends who have left us would admonish us to act could they now address us. With special reference to the advancement of the glory of Christ and the salvation of souls, they would say—" Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." I must for the present draw towards a close, by observing how prone men are to separate, when it suits their purpose, what "God has joined together." In this way, the Bible is many a time cited as authority in vindication of what it most distinctly condemns. Thus men who give themselves wholly to the world will readily refer to those passages of the word of God in which industry and application to the lawful callings of the present life is commended and enjoined. "We are told in Scripture, you know, that we ought to be diligent in business." Very true, we reply; but are we not equally told in Scripture that we ought to be "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord?" If, therefore, your fervour of spirit is given to your secular engagements-if you allow the world to exclude the Lord,-the service of Mammon to supplant the service of God;-your diligence in business is not at all obedience to the divine will; it is only a following out of the inclinations of a selfish and worldly heart. You are without God; and your quoting Scripture in your behalf is no better than an insult. Look at the verse before us. It commands us not to be slothful in business:—but why do you stop there? Why do you not equally feel the obligation of what follows? Why will you presume to adduce the authority of God as an excuse for refusing him your heart, and for giving it entirely to the world. The character which his Word sanctions and commends is the character of him who serves Him with fervour of spirit, from faith and love, and whose diligence in business is a part of that service, the world being sought in subordination to Him, and with the view of being used to His glory. A man may be an active, plodding, persevering man of business, chargeable with no crimes and misdemeanours in the conduct of his affairs such as subject him to human censure, nay, manifesting so large a measure of uprightness and honour in all his transactions as to draw forth the high commendations of all about him; while the will of God, and the glory of God, and the love of God, are not "in all his thoughts;" while his heart is an utter stranger to the hallowed fervour of devout feeling; and if the word of God is ever on his lips, it is only in the way of light and half-jocular allusion, in vindication perhaps of what he knows in his conscience it condemns. In short, a man may be all that could be wished as a man of business, and yet be living without God. On the other hand, let those who profess to be "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord," beware of being guilty on their part of separating what God hath united. Let us see no idle, slothful professors; who neglect their business, do injustice by this means to those with whom they stand connected in it, and give occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. It is equally contrary to the divine word, and equally injurious to the cause of religion, to see a Christian, with all his professions, as entirely devoted to the world as his neighbours, giving no indication that there is anything which he places before it, and esteems more highly, and desires more fervently- -no indications of the fervour of spirit which the service of the Lord requires;—and, on the other hand, to see one who bears the name of Christ and the profession of devotion, shamed by the men of the world in diligence and in the integrity and honour and generosity of business. LECTURE LVI. ROMANS XII. 12-14. "Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not." "THE joy of the Lord," said Nehemiah to the Israelites, with a force of truth which all the children of God have ever experienced," The joy of the Lord is your strength." Dulness and depression of spirit utterly incapacitate a man for vigorous exertion. They relax the nerves and paralyze the limbs of the corporeal frame; and they deprive of their tone and energy all the active principles of the spiritual nature. There is thus a close and natural connexion between the admonition in the eleventh verse, and that in the beginning of the twelfth; and there is at the same time an intimate relation between the different clauses of the twelfth verse itself. "Rejoicing in hope." The poet has said—and the saying is founded in the felt unsatisfactoriness of all earthly enjoyments, their insufficiency to fill the mind and to impart true and permanent happiness; in the vanity of human wishes, the restlessness of human desires-the incessant craving after something more— "Man never is, but always to be blest." True, however, as this may be amongst those whose constant cry is "Who will show us any good?"-it is far from true of the people of God, the children of His family, the objects of His love, the heirs of His glory. Their blessedness is by no means all in reversion |