a human affection that will not gain in beauty, a hu59 man obligation which will not increase in sanctity, a human life that will not bloom anew, when the end and author of its grace and being is recognised and adored in God.

GOD'S CALL TO THE SAINTS.

"Gather my saints together unto me: those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."-PSALM 1. 5.

THIS

HIS Psalm is an appeal in behalf of practical righteousness; it declares morality to be essential to piety; sacrifices are contrasted with personal character, and, in contrast with personal character, are pronounced of no effect; while the right of the wicked man to offer sacrifice or affect any zeal for God is sharply denied. It is therefore noteworthy that the title of the Psalm should bear the name of Asaph, a Levite, to whom the charge of the musical service of the temple was assigned; and that God is represented as coming out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, to judge His people. The charge against them was not neglect of the temple ritual; "I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or for thy burnt offerings, which are continually before me;" the charge is, in the first place, the want of that spirituality which is in

dependent of the temple and its forms; and in the next place, the want of practical morality between man and man. "Offer unto God thanksgiving." "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I shew the salvation of God." The prophets sometimes sharply reprove formal religion, and speak contemptuously of the shews of regard for God which are found in men who are destitute of practical goodness. Here the reproof comes from within the temple; those who are responsible for the orderly conduct of worship pour contempt on ceremonialism. The Jewish priesthood never, like the Romish priesthood, deliberately made morality a matter of ecclesiastical arrangement, and sanctioned crime or condoned personal unworthiness if only the forms of religion were observed. those who were most zealous for the temple service -from David and the leaders of the song-there are represented as coming these clear assertions of the uselessness of forms of piety and a shew of zeal without the heart of godliness.

From

Another thing is worthy of notice the name by which those are addressed who require so solemn a remonstrance-"Gather my saints together unto me."

as Christ called the Pharisees and Scribes "children of light;" saints without saintliness, God's people with little of God's spirit. The irony however lies in the facts of the case, not in the purpose of God. He calls these blind and unworthy men "my saints" with deep and tender meaning; they are His saints, although they are so unsaintly.

Church members and persons who shew any zeal for God's cause are often accused of harshness and want of knowledge of human nature in their judgment of the world. "Because we are not saints,” it is sometimes said, “you think of us as if we had nothing good in us; as if there could be no care for virtue in those who attend the theatre; no possibility of devoutness in those who make no profession of religion." A similar charge of harshness and want of knowledge of human nature might be retorted on the world for its judgment of the church, and on some members of the church for their judgment of others. We take it for granted that, where there is inconsistency there must be complete unreality. If men and women are imperfect, we curl the lip and speak scornfully of their Christian name; as if all their piety was hollow, and their attachment to Christ's name a mere pretence. God does far otherwise; He sees the true piety which gropes and stumbles towards Him, through many a fault and many