gloom and cold. They dreaded to speak of it, to think of it, and the dread of it is on man's natural heart. It is an awful thing to look upon the face of the dead. Where is the spirit which a moment since shone out of those eyes and spoke by those lips; whither has it borne its powers, its strength, its weakness, its sins, its destinies? And then we understand that we have one foot in the grave, that we, too, are of two worlds. The most dread moment of our experience is before us-every one of us. We may have mastered many agonies; we have yet to wrestle with the agony of death. There is a great shock, a great pain, a great horror to the natural mind, before us in the future, gay as we are now, glad, thoughtless, filling the sunshiny air with songs. That great, black terror has to be faced, and faced alone. Tender hands have sheltered you through all your early conflicts; a brave and tender heart has always, it may be, been ready to fling itself between you and the shocks of fate. But there the dearest must leave you; alone you must then face your destiny. Ah! what joy, what rapture in the assurance, that for you, as the dear forms of earth grow dim, a grander, more beautiful, more glorious form will come shining through the gloom. Already He has sent His strong, cheering words to herald His advent: "YEA, THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH, I WILL FEAR NO EVIL; FOR THOU ART WITH ME; THY ROD AND THY STAFF, THEY COMFORT ME." "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Cor. xv, 55-58.) The joy of a victory over death. For us death is slain, the grave is buried. "Oh! if my Lord would come and meet, My soul should stretch her wings in haste; "Absent from the body, present with the Lord." 6. The joy of living union with God, with Christ, with all living and blessed beings, eternally. What is that world? What its speech, its habit, the forms of its life? We know not. The veil hangs over all these. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John iii, 2, 3.) We know," for He is there-the Godman glorified; and the God-manhood glorified, through trial, suffering, and death, is the key to the life of eternity. "This we KNOW," for we see Jesus. We can wait to know more till we see him unveiled in heaven. We know that for those who are saved with His salvation God has laid up that "which eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, and heart of man hath not conceived." To them He prepares to unfold eternally all the treasures of His wisdom and His love. Fair and grand are the things which here we are permitted to look upon and to connect with our Father's hand. The splendour that floods the world when the midsummer sun is reigning in the zenith, the serene and tender beauty which glows in the air when the young moon lifts her cresset above the woods-but I know that these are but the earthly images of the heavenly things which abide before the Saviour, and which the eye purged of its films by death alone is able to behold. Wonder not that there have been some so ravished by the thought of what it is to be in the Saviour's presence, that they have cast loose the bonds which chained them earthwards, and stood attent, eager to catch the heavenly summons, " and depart and be with Christ, which is far better." friend. These are the joys of His salvation, and now they are freely offered to you by the Gospel-" Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters!" And now go home and sell them if you can, if you dare, for the fumes of the wine-cup, the kisses of a harlot, the pleasures of the world, or its dirty gains. David was mad to indulge his passions, and sold the joys of salvation for the embrace of an adultress, and the devil gave him as a makeweight the dishonour of his name, the discord and desolation of his house, and the murdered corpse of his You know what these joys of the world are worth to you. There is truth in the old fable; the monks believed that the devil might always be known by the smell of brimstone he left behind him. And you know how these pleasures taste when they are over-what heartache, misery, agony of soul, a course of this world's pleasures leaves to its votaries as the aftertaste. Now resolve to have done with it, and done with it for ever. Take in your hand Now the riches that add no sorrow, the joy that leaves no aftertaste of pain; and let the "joy of the Lord be your strength"-strength for duty, strength for making known to others the joys of salvation God has given you as your portion. If you want to kill them, keep them to yourself, brood over them selfishly, think with sleek satisfaction, "I am safe, at any rate, how many soever Satar may sweep into the pit." That state of mind will kill the joy at the heart. If you wish to keep, communicate; if you wish to be joyful, utter your joys abroad. "Then," says David," will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee." The joy of Thy salvation is a joy which makes me long to infect others. It is not my salvation, it is God's salvation, and claims-and I will glory in making known the claim-the whole human world. AIDS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIVINE LIFE. BY THE REV. J. BALDWIN BROWN, B.A. "He No. VI. GOD'S GUARDIANS OF THE POOR. gave pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry."*—EPH. iv, 11, 12. If we rightly understand them, a flood of bright light is shed on the nature of the ministry and of Church membership by these words. A saint is to be a "minister." The office of the pastor and teacher is to perfect him for his work. A "minister is not a "preacher," but a "helper; one whose life is to be a ministry to the world; even as "the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give His life as a ransom for many." And now let me address to you who are Church members a few frank words. For generations past the saint has been in the habit of thinking of himself as a person to be ministered *I am of course aware that the exact relation of the clauses in these verses is much disputed. There is difficulty in settling the relation of the clauses in which is is used with that in which Tpóg is used. I believe that I have given the real connection; and the objection that it necessitates a too wide rendering of the word diakovía, seems to me to beg a question upon which there is very much to be said. unto; one who had a minister whose business it was to look after him, to visit him, to comfort him, to cheer his sick bed, and to open to his dying eye the vision of the mansions of the blest on high. The saint has long been in the habit of considering that he had a clear right to a certain amount of this ministry from his pastor and teacher, and that if he failed to get it he was a very ill-used man indeed. My concern here is not with the duties of the pastor and teacher-the measure in which it may be possible for him, having due consideration for study, meditation, prayer, communion with the highest minds in literature, and with the poorest and most ignorant minds in the world around him, to fulfil what may be expected of him by the members of his congregation, the "saints" of the church. But for them it is deeply important that they should understand that were the veil at this moment lifted, were ministers and church members summoned to stand before the tribunal of their Lord, the question to each one would be, not 'When did your minister last see you, to cheer, to comfort, to guide you in the way ?" but, "When did you last minister; when did that sick, suffering, ignorant one, within a stone's throw of your own door, last see you, and learn through you what Christ can do for a sin-sick, suffering human soul?" We preachers are not your substitutes in the conscription of the great army of spiritual labour. We are your fellow-conscripts, the leaders of your labour, if you will; but our one grand mission is to perfect you, that is arm, equip, and inspire you for the work. Let me I. Present to you a contrast, which is often very painfully present to my mind-two pictures on which I pray you to look. as The Christians-the true members of all churches -- are, a class, distinguished by the possession of privileges |