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Saint Paul to see that image perfected in his converts, that he said unto some of them that he " 'travailed again in birth of them, until Christ should be formed in them." And if Paul was thus anxious to see them transformed into the image of Christ from glory to glory, believers will themselves feel a similar anxiety. They know that it is the will of God that they should be like Christ, and that whilst they follow others as they follow Christ, they must be content with no inferior standard. Saint Paul tells the Hebrews that the end of the conversation of those who taught them was "Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever;" and so it will be with all diligent Christians. At this mark they will ever aim, to this they will ever press on, "forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those that are before." And believers are not only to let that mind be in them which was also in Christ Jesus, and to walk as He has left them an ensample, but they are even to imitate Him in His crucifixion, His circumcision, His death, His resurrection. Yes; what He experienced corporeally they must experience spiritually. Was He circumcised? so also are believers in a spiritual. sense, for Saint Paul says, in Col. ii. 11, "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." Was He crucified? so also are they in a spiritual sense, for they are crucified unto the world—yea, all, too, that are Christ's "have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts." Did He die, and rise again from the dead on the third day, according to the Scriptures? Even so must they

reckon themselves "dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto righteousness through Jesus Christ our Lord." Thus in every respect ought Christ to be the end of the believer's daily conversation; and He is the end of the conversation of all who are walking with God as dear children.

A word of exhortation, in conclusion, to the selfrighteous. You cannot say "Christ is all;" for to you self is all. You do not see your need of Christ, for you are too much inclined to say, "I thank Thee, O God, that I am not as other men are.” Believe me, your state is full of danger, for all pride—and especially such pride-goeth before destruction. Beseech the Lord to open your eyes, so that you may see what a broken reed you are leaning upon; and remember, if Christ be not all to you, He will be nothing. You may be ready to say of the honour of salvation, as the harlot said of the living child, “Divide it—divide it!" but Christ will have no divided honours; He will be both the Alpha and Omega of our salvation, or He will be nothing.

A word of exhortation to the fearful and trembling. To you, my dear reader, this subject may well minister strong consolation. If Christ be all-if He be the sole ground of your acceptance, the sole source of completeness, why should you be so fearful? why should you be so anxious? Surely Christ's salvation meets your case, however destitute you may be. If you have nothing, Christ is all, and is willing to be all. Why, then, do you tremble, O ye of little faith? Oh! take heed that there be no self in your trembling

-no half-concealed desire to be your own Saviour— no unwillingness to make Christ your all.

"Venture on Him, venture wholly,

None but Christ

Can do helpless sinners good."

A word to the inconsistent. I am afraid Christ is not the end of your conversation. You would be saved by Him, but you are not willing to walk with Him. This will not do. The double-minded manthe man who halts between two opinions-is unstable in all his ways; he will never win the crown of life. No; you must choose whom you will serve; and you must be decided in your service if you would cast in your lot with the Lord's people. We ask you to do so, for all who choose Christ choose wisely; yea, the Lord hath promised good to Israel, and all who cast in their lot with them shall share therein.

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CHRISTIAN ENDURANCE AND THE MOTIVES FOR CULTIVATING IT.

2 TIMOTHY iv. 5.

"Endure afflictions."

HIS was addressed primarily to Timothy, St. Paul's own son in the faith. And it might with singular propriety be addressed to him; for though the gospel which he preached breathes only "peace on earth, good will towards man," it was a message which exposed both those who received and those who preached it to a great cloud of afflictions. Christ Himself forewarned His disciples of this, assuring them that they would be persecuted, and delivered up to the synagogues, and into prisons-yea, that they would be hated of all men for His name's sake, and for the gospel's; and the written records left by His followers sufficiently show that such was actually the case. St. Paul says of himself and the other apostles that they were made a spectacle unto the world, and unto angels, and unto men, through the sufferings to which they were subjected; and, indeed, we have good reason for believing that all of them, with the exception of John, met the martyr's death. To the afflictions of the first teachers of the religion of Jesus, and of their numerous converts, the ten bloody persecutions of the pagan emperors bear

ample testimony. Nor are the Middle Ages less prolific of evidence establishing the afflictions of the faithful. Paganism had indeed been overthrown by that gospel which it had hated and proscribed; but pagan Rome only gave place to papal Rome, the harlot that sits upon the seven hills, who for many a weary century has warred against and wasted the saints of the Most High, and made herself drunk with the blood of the saints.

The exhortation is, however, applicable to believers in all ages; for though all may not be exposed to the same violence, yet nowhere has the offence of the cross ceased, and nowhere can the children of God be wholly shielded from the malevolence of the children of the world.

But in addition to such affliction there is that trouble to which man is born an heir, and by which he is too often bowed down as a bulrush. Well, then, might the Spirit of God move holy Paul to say to Timothy, and through him to all the people of God, "Endure afflictions."

Let us consider,

I. The nature of that endurance to which the Lord's people are here called.

And in doing this it may be useful to show both what it is not and what it really is.

I. It is not an apathetic indifference to the afflictions with which we are visited. Such an insensibility and indifference would be highly unbecoming in beings like ourselves; for every affliction has a voice, and it behoves him to whom it is sent not only to hear that voice and to remember who has appointed

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