at the beginning, he is certain to go astray in the execution.

The above illustrations will not be thrown away, if they tend in any mind to clear up the position which we are endeavouring to establish. As in the arts, so also in the pursuit of Holiness, or, in other words, in the spiritual life, there is an end; and it is all-important that they who would be proficients in the spiritual life should discern clearly what this end is, and hold it steadily before them in their every endeavour. The end is love-supreme love, with all the powers of the soul, to God,-and such love to our brethren as we bear to ourselves,—this love to be engendered by a living faith in what God has done for us, a faith which sets free the heart both from a sense of guilt and from a love of sin, and which thus sets the conscience at ease. If this love is in some measure yielded both to God and man, the object of true religion is attained. If this love is not produced and maintained in the soul, we fail altogether in true Religion, and that, though we may have been very busy about Religion, may have put up many prayers, heard many sermons, attended many sacraments, assisted in many philanthropic enterprises.

Some perhaps will ask, and not without surprise; "Are not Prayers, and Scripture Readings, and Sermons, are not even Sacraments and good works, true Religion?" No; not if you will think accurately on the subject, without confusing the relations of the

various parts of the Religious system. Prayer and Scripture Reading, and Sermons, and Sacraments are means to true Religion; and as they are means of Divine appointment, they are sure, if faithfully and devoutly used, to conduce to the end. But for all that, they are not the end; and to regard them as such is a mischievous confusion of thought, which may very possibly disturb our spiritual aim, and make us shoot very wide of the mark. It is true, no doubt, that the religious exercises we have specified are absolutely essential (in all cases where they may be had) to the spiritual life. But even this fact does not take them out of the category of means, and make them ends. A scaffolding is the means of building a house; nay, more, it is an essential means; for how could the upper stories ever be raised without a scaffolding? But in material things of this kind, no one ever mistakes the means for the end. No one ever confounds the house with the scaffolding, or imagines that the object of a builder is achieved, if nothing should ever be exhibited to the eye but scaffolding, if there be no foundation dug, and no layers of bricks begin to rise above the earth. But in matters spiritual there are hundreds who are satisfied with themselves, if they exhibit day by day nothing but a religious apparatus, if they have literally nothing to show but prayers duly and attentively said, Church duly attended, Sacraments periodically and solemnly received. And others there are, who confound the fruits of Religion with Religion itself,-who,

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because they bear a part in good works, help good objects, devote some time and money to the relief of the poor, are perfectly satisfied with these external symptoms of spirituality, and never stop to inquire whether they are in deed and in truth spiritual. But alas! it is too possible to be useful in many ways, without being actuated in what we do by love to God or love to man, without a sincere desire to please and glorify our Creator, or to serve and benefit those who were made in His Image, and redeemed by His Son's Blood.

See now how the keeping the end of the religious life steadily before us gives a right direction to effort, and simplifies our work,

1. And, first, how it gives a right direction to effort. Energy is so valuable a thing that it is melancholy to think of any of it being thrown away, and running to waste. In religious and moral life, more especially, we all manifest so little energy, that it is necessary to make every effort as telling as possible, so as to husband what energy we have. And no effort can be telling, unless it be bestowed in the right quarter. Now if the great end of all Religion be the love of God, and of man for God's sake, this shows in what quarter our efforts should be directed. so much the thing done, as the spirit in is done, which is of such great moment. is an affection of the heart and will, and we know that very small tokens, the merest trifles, will

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which it

For love

evince it; and that, when it is evinced, it has a peculiar power of winning its way both with God and man. Suppose a great fortune laid out in building churches, or relieving the poor, under the pressure of servile fear, and with the design of expiating sin, or a great philanthropic enterprise inaugurated and maintained from ambitious motives; can it be supposed that such acts, however it may please Him to bless the effects of them, go for any thing with God as regards the doer of them? And, on the other hand, suppose some very simple, commonplace action, something not going at all beyond the circle of routine and daily duty, done with a grateful, affectionate feeling towards God, and from a simple desire to please Him, and to win His approval,-can it be supposed that such an action, however trifling in itself, does not go for something, nay, for much, with God? The love of Him. with all the heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, is "the first and great commandment." One movement of that love gives to the commonest action the fragrance of a sacrifice; while, without one movement of it, the costliest offering must of necessity be rejected. "If a man should give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned."

And does not love win its way also with man, who is made in the Image of God? A wealthy person, who only condescends to relieve the poor out of his abundance, without feeling or expressing sympathy with them, finds thereby no door of access to their hearts,

though they may be glad enough to avail themselves of his munificence. While, on the other hand, one who has little or nothing to give the poor, but visits them with evident interest in their condition, and words and looks expressive of that interest, is sure to insinuate himself into their confidence and affection. The moral of all which is, that if we would bestow our efforts in the spiritual life well and wisely, we need not so much seek to do something religious, as to do ordinary things in a religious manner, cultivating high and loving thoughts of God while we do our work, and seeking to do it well, where no eyes are upon us, from the view of pleasing Him; and in all services to our fellow-men thinking of the Image of God, which lies hidden and overlaid with rubbish in their souls, as in ours, and of the enormous price of Christ's Blood, which was paid down for all, showing how high must have been God's estimation of each of them. I believe we shall never regret any amount of pains taken in doing common things as unto the Lord, and in striving to evince love to Him by means of them.

2. Finally; the keeping before us steadily the love of God and man as our great end wonderfully simplifies our work; abbreviates it, if I may so express myself, and saves us the toil of many a circuitous route. Say that I have sinned to-day, come miserably short of my good resolutions, gone back from grace. What is to be done now? Nature prompts me to delay my return to my Heavenly Father, under the plea that it is