African slave-trade, and for twenty-five years longer, or until nearly the day of his death, the act for negro emancipation. The missionaries who opened the way of the gospel in foreign fields, all struggled against fearful odds for many long and weary years. It was fourteen years before a single convert gladdened the heart of the first missionary to Western Africa. Dr. Judson labored in Burmah seven years before he had one; and in Tahiti, sixteen years. In our own country the time has come when converts are the reward of persevering labor. Forty years ago the mere announcement of a "protracted meeting" was sufficient to fill the house at the time appointed, and awaken interest from the outset. Now the world gives little heed to the services of the Church, and ministers and laymen must go out into the highways and, by personal labor and entreaty, compel sinners to come in. It is now more laborious to win sinners to Christ in civilized lands than in many heathen countries where, forty years ago, the very name of Christ was hateful. But shall we, therefore, despair? Rather let us summon our energies and, with unyielding faith, make our lives a perpetual effort to turn men to God. No labor is lost to him that endures. Judgment will turn not on our success, but upon our fidelity. "Well done, good and faithful servant!" It may well be so, for the faithful servant is in the best sense the successful one.

"Hast thou not learned, what thou art often told,

A truth still sacred, and believed of old,

That no success attends on spears and swords

Unblest, and that the battle is the Lord's?" (Cowper.)

Moral conquests are of God. Time is his, and so are the toilers. The workmen may fall, but the work will go forward. And at last, when the work is done and the workmen are summoned from their long sleep, eternal wages shall be theirs who, in spite of discouragements and trials, counted not their lives dear unto themselves, but finished their courses with joy, and the ministry which they received of the Lord Jesus.

UNWORLDLINESS.

Is there such a thing in our present life as unworldliness? That depends upon what is understood by the term. In an extreme sense there can be no such thing as separation from the world, until we are out of it altogether. Our feet must tread upon the ground, our stomachs must be supplied with material food, we must breathe the atmosphere of earth, and keep more or less in contact with worldly

things. In a moral sense, however, there is such a thing as unworldliness. It is a duty of the Christian life to be unworldly. We find it enjoined in 1 John ii, 15-17: "Love not the world," etc. Respecting all that is sinful in the world Christians are to be unworldly. They are to shun its evil practices, avoid its bad customs, be proof against its follies, and avoid excesses, even in its harmless things. They are to attend diligently to their daily occupations, but not be so engrossed as to forget God. They are to love their fellow-men and their kindred, but they are to love the Savior more. They are to be cheerful and happy in enjoyment of comfort and pleasure, but not to live as if life had no other object. To be wedded and enslaved to secular pursuits or idle amusements is not becoming to candidates for everlasting glory. They must live with another world in view, and employ the things of the present with reference to those of the future. This is unworldliness. This is using the world as not abusing it. This is the love of the Father and of heaven as distinguished from the love of the world. And this spirit may characterize every Christian life. It is the right spirit. It does not scorn the world as if it were all evil, but treats it so as to extract a blessing from it. It does not reject the world as if it had no value, but lays a foundation while in it for the possession of eternal riches. It turns the world to good account. It makes it profitable to all eternity. It employs the powers of body, mind, and soul wisely. God does not require of any man that he turn his natural ability for money-making into spendthrift habits, but rather to use all the money he can honestly earn in doing good. God does not desire that any person shall crush out love of father, mother, wife, children, and friends, but rather to cherish these affections and make them influential in promoting love to God. In all undertakings and in all relations the Christian's principles should appear. "Whether we be ministers or merchants, or tradesmen or laborers-whatever our calling may be-we should let our Christianity be apparent in that calling. We should take our stand as servants of God. Ours should not be a mere worldly standard, but a Christian. Unswerving truthfulness, an honesty that will bear the light, a rectitude that can not be impeached, a high tone bearing the gospel impress,-these should characterize all our dealings in the world. Instead of regarding the hours employed in our trade or our profession as so much time taken away from the religious life, we should rather look upon it as the appointed sphere in which that life may display itself." This world is not our permanent abiding place. Here we have no continuing city. It is the sheerest folly to act as if we

were to stay on earth forever. True wisdom is found in so living that, when our souls are required of us, we can say with complete resignation: "To depart and be with Christ is far better." Either a man is worldly or unworldly. He can not be both. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Ye can not serve God and mammon. There is no room in any human heart for both the spirit of the world and the Spirit of Christ. One or the other must be shut out. If the former, there is abundant compensation in the joys and prospects of the spiritual kingdom; if the latter, there is a feverish tussle for a little while with the excitements and gains of the earthly life, and then gloom and foreboding in anticipation of the life to come. Worldliness slays its victims. It worries the life out of them. It hurries them to God's judgment-seat. Unworldliness is preservative of life, and trains the mortal powers for the enduring realities of existence beyond.

CONSTANT CONSECRATION.

The permanent devotement of our whole being to God is the proof of saving faith and hearty obedience. It shows that the spiritual work begun in us is clear and satisfactory, and that our fixed purpose is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. It indicates that we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, and that none but God is real hidden manna to our souls. We have given up ourselves, our bodies, minds, and hearts to him, and to him alone, evermore to abide in spiritual rest or holy activity at his feet. Any consecration short of this is worthless in the end. It is as disastrous as that of the angels which kept not their first estate, or that of Adam who fell from his primal condition of holiness. It may be good while it lasts, but is bad because it fails. To be sanctified, separated from sin, and set apart to that which is holy, and then afterward to be desecrated and defiled, is as grievous a fall as this or any other world can know. Consecration must be constant. Holiness must be abiding. The moral law as well as the gracious Gospel requires it. The law of the Lord is perfect. It requires just what is right, all that is right, and only what is right. Christ in his human life fulfilled this law. He set an example of complete and lasting dedication to God and obedience to the commands of his Father. His heart was pure and his life replete with good works. Yet he labored under just such embarrassments as Christians always do in endeavoring to be perfect. He was criticised and maligned. The Jews declared that, instead of being holy, he

was possessed of the devil. He loved God with all his might, mind, and strength, and his neighbor as himself, which is the whole law; yet so erroneous were the notions of some regarding a perfect life that he was branded as an impostor, and fiercely persecuted. It is evident that popular opinion is not a safe criterion by which to judge the reality of spiritual consecration. The life will betoken it, and intelligent observers in our day will estimate it with tolerable accuracy, but it is mainly a spiritual state, the fullness and blessedness of which only those who are in it know. To such, popular approval is not considered a requisite. To live in the smile of God hour by hour until the closing scene, is the one desire of those who are wholly his. Yet the approbation of good men will be sought, and sympathy for all that is godlike in others will be felt. The Christian who is wholly and always Christ's is the best humanitarian, and the best member of the best society. It must be so. He is the perfect lover of his neighbor. He does not make the wretched mistake of so interpreting the law as to suppose that God must be the only object of his thought, affection, and practical attention. He knows there is a second commandment equally binding with the first, and he must needs keep it. To love his neighbor as himself, and show his love by the spirit of his life, is as much his endeavor as to love God with all his heart, and prove it by the constancy of his devotion. The religion of Christ does not destroy natural affection. On the contrary, it strengthens and purifies it. Jesus had a natural affection for John, and for the three inmates of the Bethany home. The Christian will love his wife, children, and brethren the more because he is a Christian. He will not worship them instead of God any more than he will shut himself up in a cloister to serve God instead of them. His affections are rightly adjusted. He loves the Creator supremely, and all his creatures perfectly. Does it, therefore, follow that he will never be angered or grieved? Not at all. God is angry with the wicked every day. Christ looked round about upon certain men with anger. A sense of injury or injustice is in nowise inconsistent with perfect obedience to the law of God. By the very constitution of our nature we must feel opposed to all ill-treatment and wrong. Sanctification does not eradicate any principle of our intellectual natures. It does, however, imply a state of grace in which we can forgive our enemies and pray for them that despitefully use us.

Constant consecration is the condition of permanent usefulness. Those who are wholly Christ's all the time are ready for every good work. They lose no time in preparing to serve. They do not need

to be "worked up" to a working condition. It is often said in beginning protracted meetings that the Church must be wrought up to a working state. This is a confession that the consecration of its members is not unwavering. Such professors differ as widely from constantly consecrated Christians as militia troops differ from the regulars. They must be brought together periodically and drilled, in order to be of any use. But regular troops are ready at the word. Great excitement is not theirs when in action. They are steady and efficient. They expect execution to result from their service. In communities where Christians are not constantly consecrated, revivals of religion, when they occur, generally produce great excitement. The whole community is profoundly moved. The revival is a novelty and a wonder. Too often it is never repeated, at least in the life-time of the interested observers. Such excitement is good in its way. It is better than continued spiritual dearth and death. Indeed, it is impossible, under such circumstances, to accomplish any thing without producing it. Yet in other communities it is almost unknown. Revivals there are the rule, not the exception. Souls are converted in the regular services, and during extra meetings the work is deep and quiet. It is a mistake to imagine that a revival consists mostly of excited emotions rather than in conformity of the human will to the will of God. All such revivals cease when the causes of the excitement cease. People then say the revival is on the decline, whereas real religion should never wane. We repeat, in some communities excitement is important and indispensable to arrest attention, to draw off the people from other pursuits to attend to the concerns of their souls; but in others, Christians are so constant in their devotion and so earnest in their invariable solicitude for souls that revivals are almost perennial, and awaken no wonder. These are the best. In them new converts live and breathe in an atmosphere of piety. Every prayer-meeting is a revival. The divine fire dwells in the heart and flashes out in the prayers and testimonies, to warm any wavering soul. Keep consecrated, and Christ will live in you and work by you. Keep consecrated, and your life will be an enduring benediction to those around you.

SPIRITUALITY.

Spirituality develops from communion with God in Christ. It is one thing to know Christ outwardly-that is, historically-and form an intellectual conception of his character and life, and quite another