things are good and profitable unto men.' That faith which lays hold on the Lord Jesus Christ, and appropriates the benefits of his great salvation, is a faith which of necessity brings forth fruit to the glory of God, and it is by this that a living faith is as clearly discerned as a tree is known by its fruit.* To labour, and that with diligence and zeal, for the promotion of the Redeemer's kingdom, is not only a duty inseparably connected with Christian discipleship, but is also one of the most precious privileges of the true believer, and the disposition thus to labour in the cause of Christ, is one of those marks by which the real Christian is to ascertain the sincerity of his professions. Is this your experience, brethren? Are you now zealously engaged in the advancement of your Redeemer's kingdom? Is it your meat and drink to do the will of your Father in heaven? Are you heartily engaged in those great plans for the advancement of Christianity, which give the character of the present age its unparalelled importance and sublimity? And if you are, is the constraining love of Christ your motive? Look well to this particular; for you may do all these things and more, and yet, if you have not an eye single to the glory of God, however profitable your labours may be to others, they will bring little substantial comfort to your own souls. Those only were commended who, for the "name's sake" of Christ, had laboured and not fainted. It is intimated in the text, that every individual engaged in labouring for the cause of Christ, will have need of "patience"-meek endurance of suffering. Op

See 12th Article.

position and discouragements from without, and spiritual weakness from within, are to be expected. There will always be enough to try the patience of every one who will faithfully discharge his duty to God and to his fellow men; and the more he labours in season and out of season, the more will he have need of patience, because he will not only have the malice of an ungodly world to contend against, but the envy of false brethren reproaching him with the charge of pharisaism, and excusing their own luke-warmness and indifference, by accusing him of being "righteous overmuch." Our Saviour demands from his disciples patience in suffering as well as continuance in well doing. Opposition must not force you from the cause you desire to advance, neither must apparent ill success dishearten. It is the command of Him who, for your sakes, laboured and fainted not, "be not weary in well doing," and it is the exalted encouragement, "for in due time ye shall reap if ye faint not." I hold up before you, disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, the commendation of the faithful in the Church of Ephesus, and I demand of you, in the name of Christ, "be ye followers of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises."

3dly. We gather from the commendation of the text, the indispensable importance of sound doctrinal opinion, connected with abhorrence of all evil practices.

The example of Ephesus is well worthy of being held up to all who are called by the name of Christ. In these days, soundness of doctrinal opinion is of extreme importance, for in every endeavour which is made to advance the cause of

godliness, the counteracting influence of the enemy of our salvation will be found. It is necessary to watch his devices, and be prepared to meet the plots by which he seeks to continue his empire over the souls of men. Without clear Scriptural knowledge, the people may be led astray by their teachers; and "blind leaders of the blind" may plunge both themselves and their hearers in destruction. There is hardly a greater guarantee for soundness of doctrine in the preacher, than the power of discrimination in the people, and this was the praise of the members of the Church at Ephesus. "I know thy works, and that thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars." There are few Churches, at the present day, the members of which could deserve so weighty a commendation; for with all our advances, we have to deplore a most lamentable ignorance as to 'the soundness and integrity of doctrine. So little are the members of our Churches in the habit of making themselves familiar with the truth as it is in Jesus Christ; so little are the doctrines which are preached brought to the test of Scriptural investigation; and, indeed, so little do the generality trouble themselves about this matter at all, that in many places, heresy the most fatal might be preached, secure from detection, if the preacher would only be careful to disguise the taste of the poison. If the members of our Churches generally, were but as zealous in the investigation of truth as were those of the Church at Ephesus, many a learned and many an eloquent discourse, though now admired, would be found wanting in the fundamentals of Gospel truth; and it is to be feared, that there is many a preacher bearing

even academic honours on his brow, who never could endure the pungency of Ephesian or Berean criticism. What is the reason, for instance, that those errors, which aim their deadliest blows at the very root of the Christian religion, denying the proper divinity of Jesus Christ, and the vicarious character of his atonement, are even tolerated by many who with an obvious inconsistency wear the name of Christian? What is the reason, that minor errors of doctrine, which do indeed more slowly, yet effectually injure the progress of the truth, find their way unimpeded into many a pulpit? Why is it, that the vital principle of Christianity, justification by faith only-why is it that the natural and total alienation of the unregenerated heart-why is it that the necessity of a change, radical and complete, by the influence of the Holy Ghost-why is it, that these are so frequently lost sight of, or softened down to the disparagement of the truth as it is in Jesus? These questions are to be answered by the fact, that the generality of congregations know so little about, and take so little interest in, the investigation of evangelical truth. Where there is a praying people, and where there is a Scripture-reading people, nothing but sound doctrine and consistent practice can be endured. Where there is not a praying people, and where there is not a Scripture-reading people, they are not qualified to judge whether, in all its important shades, truth be preached to them. It was a most glorious trait in the character of the Bereans, that they made it a point of conscience to look into these things; and the circumstance which raised them in the opinion of the Apostle far above their neighbours of Thessalonica was, that when they

heard the word, they "searched the Scriptures daily whether these things were so;" and had it not been that the truth as it is in Jesus was known by the members of the Church at Ephesus, they never would have been able to achieve that conquest over erroneous teachers, and erroneous doctrines, which gained for them the commendation of the text. To the Bible then, my brethren, and to the Holy Spirit, as the only infallible teacher, you are to be directed. The knowledge and the experience of truth, are things essential to your everlasting welfare. With an humble distrust of yourselves, and an humble dependance upon the grace of God, you will not materially err. With a sound Scriptural knowledge, others will not be able to mislead you; falsehood, be it ever so minute or insidious, will be detected; truth alone will stand. "The faith once delivered to the saints" is only safe with a heart right with God, and knowledge built on the foundation of his word.