at all hazards, to please self? You know what it is to be made happy by outward prosperity, or sorry by outward adversity-to be grieved or gladdened by worldly gain or loss: Have you any such definite consciousness of joy or sorrow about your soul's progress or declension? You have felt real pain many a time, for instance, for the loss of money, or of some place or project on which you had set your heart: Have you ever felt any such undeniable pain for sin? Do you remember any time in your past life when sin cost you real trouble and sorrow of heart, when you were distressed to have been betrayed into it yourself, or grieved to behold it in others? As a man is eager to retrieve his loss when he discovers himself to have fallen behind in his worldly circumstances, are you conscious of having ever made any real, resolute effort, of having been at pains to set your soul right with God, to get the better of worldly or unholy desires and habits in your inward character ? As you would rejoice at success in the one case, so if you have really succeeded in the other, if your soul has been reconciled to the Father of spirits, if you discern in it the marks of a progressive meetness for heaven, you cannot fail to have experienced some delight at the discovery. Are you conscious of this? Or if you have been conscious of no spiritual progress, of no advancement in holiness to

give you this joy in time past, would it rejoice you to get it now? If you had your choice to-day of poverty with Christ, or riches and all worldly comfort and happiness without Him, which would you choose? What you most value yourself, you will most desire for your children, or your friends. Ask your heart, and let it honestly reply, whether it would give you more pleasure to see your family and friends get on well in the world, get good places, grow rich and honoured of men, or to see them grow up good, holy, pious-minded men and women? It grieves us, my dear friends, to think what kind of answer many, many must make, if they speak sincerely, to such inquiries as these. And if it be with you, as we fear it is, surely never could a Christian friend address you in the language of the text. Godless, Christless, utterly unhappy in spirit, your worst enemy could not utter a more malignant wish than that you should prosper and be in health just as your soul is prospering. And destitute as you are of true love to Christ, and to your fellowmen, to wish you outward prosperity, despite of your soul's state, would be a wish even more inconsistent still with your best welfare and theirs. You have never shown any disposition to serve God, or promote your brother's good with the means you possess; and to wish you more wealth or influence, would only be to desire for you increase of responsi

bility and increase of guilt. You, whom God has already blessed with health, or wealth, or influence, which you have consumed on self, or spent on sin, could the best friend you have on earth wish you more of these? As soon wish that fuel may be added to the raging fire, or fresh lading to the sinking ship; as soon wish that treasures of gold may be cast into the sea, as into the cold, thankless, all-engulfing selfishness of the spirit within you!

SERMON IX.

THE CHRISTIAN'S HERITAGE.

"All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's."-1 COR. iii. 21, 22, 23.

THE unloveliness of envy, jealousy, pride, and the kindred vices which spring from the common root of selfishness, is never so apparent as when these vices manifest themselves amongst those who bear the Christian name. Yet the history of the Church but too often exhibits the strange anomaly of a religion of love producing the keenest haters, and a gospel of peace engendering strifes and animosities more bitter than the disputes and rivalries of the profane. It is a very early manifestation of this unhallowed spirit on which St Paul animadverts in the passage before us. The Christians at Corinth had quarrelled with each other on the merits of their respective teachers each party boasting of the pre-eminent wisdom or eloquence of its own head, and contemning the gifts of his supposed rivals.

The apostle rebukes this unholy strife, characterising it as not only unlovely, but, among Christians, singularly foolish and irrational. And the thought by which he enforces this representation is a very striking one. Religious rivalries and competitions involve, he alleges, not only a sin, but an absurdity, inasmuch as it is the peculiar property of that which is the object of contention, that it is not lost to any one man by another's gain. Each man's share of the divine treasure is not diminished, but rather increased, by reason of the multitude of participants. The prize gained by one earnest runner in the Christian race is not therefore lost, but rather rendered doubly secure and precious to the other competitors. In the pursuit of wealth it may be natural, however culpable, to begrudge another his gains, or to be elated at our own; for wealth is a limited good. Your money cannot be yours and mine at the same time; what you gain I may lose; it is possible for you to be enriched at my expense. Neither, again, is it irrational, though it may be sinful, to contend with others for power, rank, social greatness; for the very ideas of power, rank, greatness, imply their opposites-subjection, lowliness, inferiority. That one man attains to place or power, implies that others miss or lose it; the successful man rises, not seldom, on the ruin of his rivals. But with respect to spiritual good