No. CXXVI.

Subject: MAN'S HIGHEST WORK, AND THE WAY TO ACHIEVE IT.

"Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." -1 TIMOTHY iv. 16.

WORK.

These words of Paul to Timothy should not be confined to ministers. They have an application to all men. They show man's highest work, and the way to achieve it. I. MAN'S HIGHEST What is the highest work? First: The moral salvation of self. "Save thyself." What is salvation? Not mere deliverance from an outward hell, or introduction to an outward heaven, but it is restoration to the soul itself of what it has lost through depravity—the restoration of lost love, lost purity, lost harmony, lost usefulness. Secondly: The salvation of others. "And them that hear thee.” All men, besides ministers, have hearers; and it is the duty of all men to preach, to speak that which will tend to the moral salvation of men, to raise them from ignorance to knowledge, from selfishness to benevolence, from materialism to spirituality, from Satan to God. II. MAN'S QUALIFICATIONS for the highest work. What are the qualifications? First: Self-heedfulness. "Take heed unto thyself." See that self is all right, rectify thy own mistakes, train thy own faculties, purify thy own affections, discipline thy own character. This is the first step. You must be good, in order to do good. Secondly: Genuine teaching. "Unto the doctrine." The word doctrine here includes the whole matter of teaching. See that the teaching is true-true in its doctrine, in its spirit, in its aim. There is no teaching work where there is not a teaching life. He alone knows the divine doctrine that does the divine will. Thirdly: Perseverance in goodness. "Continue in them." Continue in the work of self-culture and in genuine teaching. Do not let your efforts be capricious, but systematic; not occasional, but persistent. "Be instant, in season and out of season."

CXXVII.

Subject: MORAL MATERIALISM, ITS CAUSES AND ITS CURE. "My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken Thou me according to Thy word."-PSALM CXix. 25.

Whether the term "soul" here stands for the life or for the intelligent spirit, is a question that need not detain us. We

66

know that, apart from the intelligent moral spirit, man is not man, but a mere animal. His life, as a man, is his soul. The verse calls us to notice two things in relation to the soul. I. Irs DOWNWARD TENDENCY. 'My soul cleaveth to the dust." This expresses the tendency of the spirit to run into materialism. (1) This tendency is common to all men. Everywhere do we see the thoughts and sympathies of the soul taken up with material wealth, aggrandisement, pleasures, pursuits. The grand question with all is, "What shall we eat? what shall we drink? and, wherewithal shall we be clothed?" Sad to see souls, made to expand into seraphs, sinking into grubs. The causes of this tendency are numerous. (a) The necessary dominion of the senses over the soul in its first stages. In the first stages of our mortal life the soul is in such an incipient, unconscious, and inactive state, that the senses are its absolute ruler. (b) The necessary atten tion which the soul must give to the means of bodily subsistence. Providence does not feed man as it feeds the flowers of the field, the trees of the forest, the cattle upon the hills, the birds of the air, by preparing for them exactly what they want. It provides food for man in connection with man's foresight, contrivance, industry, all of which imply mental work. Thus the soul contracts material habits. (c) The influence of evil spirits upon the human soul. Satan goes with all this, nurses this tendency, and seeks thoroughly to immerse the soul in matter. Thus the vast majority of souls in all lands are buried in matter as in a grave. (2) This tendency is only consciously felt by the regenerate. the text felt it, because he was a renewed man. exclaimed, “O wretched man that I am!" and struggle of all good men the world over. of life is the battle against this tendency. LIFTING POWER. Quicken me according to Thy word." God's word is the quickening energy. That word at first awoke the universe into being. That word will at last resuscitate the sleeping dead; that word alone can raise the soul above the dominion of the senses. Christ says, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." How does this word counteract the downward tendency of the soul? First: By alarming it. It rolls on it the thunders of Sinai, and bids it rise; "Arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee life. It alarms the soul by showing to it (1) its nature. "Offspring" and "image" of God, destined for an endless existence; made to live the life of an

66

It

The writer of Paul felt it, and is the great grief The grand battle Notice, II. ITS UP

angel. An existence greater than the material universe, more enduring than all time. Thus it reveals the soul to itself, and quickens it into a sense of its native greatness. It shows to it (2) Its degradation. In its light it is made to see itself as carnally sold under sin." The king a manacled slave; nay, more, the angel a crawling worm. With this light on it, it exclaims, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?" So long as black midnight reigns, the eagle sleeps; it is not until the solar rays of heaven fall on its eyeballs that it spreads its pinions for lofty flight. And so long as the soul remains in darkness concerning its degradation, will it continue the mere creature of the senses. It shows to it (3) Its guiltiness. For the soul to be the vassal of the senses, is not a misfortune, but a crime. Heaven has endowed it with a power capable of mastering the impulses and appetites of the flesh. In its servility and serfdom it is not to be pitied, but denounced. The word reveals to it its guiltiness in this respect, and thus quickens its conscience. How does the word counteract the downward tendency of the soul? Secondly: By guiding it. When the soul has been made sensible of its nature and degradation and guiltiness, it is natural for it to start the question, How shall I be delivered? How shall I rise out of this deep horrible pit and miry clay? How shall I snap my chains, and break through my prison doors? How shall I gain possession of the throne of my being? The word responds to its cry; presents Christ to it, who with loving voice speaks: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden." "I am come that ye might have life."

Conclusion.-Brother, learn the great work in relation to thyself. It is to overcome the material tendency of thy soul, and to obtain a sovereignty over thy senses and thyself.

The Pulpit and its Handmaids.

Joy. The eye glistens with joy in the presence of a glorious landscape, or a splendid piece of art; or, what is more enrapturing still, because it appeals to the deepest moral soul-a majestic moral character, a divine hero.

LOVE.-Love is the genial spring-sun of the soul. Under its influence all its faculties plume their pinions, and sport in the bright azure of new life.

HOPE.-Hope bears us up beneath the load; gives us a steady anchorage under the fiercest surge and gales. Hope sees some light fringing the darkest cloud, hears some sweet promises articulating amidst the din of distress.

THE LITTLE.-Each little incident in Christ's biography, like each star, has a light to reveal a sphere peculiar to itself

THE SOUL.-The soul, like certain plants in the Steppes of Siberia, can grow in vigour and stature, and blossom in beauty, though ice imbed its roots, and frosty winds bend its fibres and mantle its foliage in sheets of snow.

RETRIBUTION.-Out of our present must grow our future, as out of the seeds of one autumn burst the harvest of another.

DEVOTION.-Devotion is the solar beam of the soul-at once luminous and life-giving — in it "spiritual things "are"clearly seen," and spiritual germs are quickened into life, and reach perfection.

THE FRESHNESS OF THE BIBLE. -There is a morning dew resting on the whole field of sacred truth, and a bloom of freshness on every object that rises to your view. God's expressions are well-springs of thought. You may as well speak of the formality of the ever-shifting clouds or the ever-changing landscape, as talk of formality in the devout reading of God's word.

SIN.-Every sin is the putting out of some star in the heavens of your future.

INWARD DISUNION.-A divided heart is the arena of conflictthe fountain of every bitter stream.

SEASONS.-A fresh season is nature's fresh edition of her old truths. In one season she writes them in buds, in another in flowers, in another in ripened fruit, in another in frost.

WINTER.-Winter is nature's prophecy of a retribution for humanity.

SILENCE. The kingdom of heaven comes not "with observation." It comes, not like the noisy cataract dashing from the hills, but like the silent dew, full of life. It comes, not as ocean billows come to the shore, under the furious blast of the storm, but like the deep river it rolls unheard at your feet, and gives life to all who drink. It comes, not as the lightning flash, but as the morning sun, silently touching the fields into new life, and melting clouds into luminous ether.