of Christ's truth in all our intercourse with others; that we should let our light shine before men, that they may see our good works, and glorify, not us, but our Father who is in heaven. And for this what a mighty instrument is speech. How powerful an engine is the tongue for good, when it is employed for God's glory, and the well-being of those around us. Now, in conversation, as in other things, men are apt to fall into extremes, some with puritanical preciseness exclaiming against the innocent. customs of the world, and finding fault with everything; others, under the pretence of avoiding this extreme, flying into the other, and imagining that in order to be agreeable in society we must avoid the mention of religion, and keep our highest destinies out of sight. How rarely do we meet with that wise union of gravity and courteousness, of piety and gentleness, of dignity and humility, which recommends Christianity instead of discrediting it, which enables us to uphold the religion of Jesus without injuring the rights of society, and to do justice to society without dishonouring our religion. For this we need, as the Apostle teaches us, that our speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt (πάντοτε ἐν χάριτι, αλατι ἠρτυμένος). Our words should ever reflect the divine grace which comes down from above; and there should also be in them that purity and freshness, that vital briskness and living energy, which marks the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in man.

If I am asked to particularise, I would say that personal holiness, wherever it really exists, will so influence our conversation that it shall be truthful, and pure, and charitable. First, it will be truthful. "Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? He that speaketh the truth from his heart. He that hath used no deceit in his tongue, nor done evil to his neighbour, and hath not slandered his neighbour." It is with such persons that God is pleased to dwell here; and they shall dwell with Him eternally hereafter. Well; then further, our conversation will be pure. We shall be enabled to separate instinctively what is innocent from what is sinful. We shall shrink from even

the indirect and covert approaches of vice. We shall with senses well exercised by reason of Christian use, be able to discern between good and evil. Then once more; personal holiness will manifest itself in the charitable tone of our conversation in society. I confess I sometimes find it difficult to reconcile with Christian charity much of the conversation of professing Christians. It is, it must be, inconsistent with personal holiness, to build rash censures and bitter reproaches of others upon doubtful conjectures or evil surmises. He who judges or speaks ill of his brethren, ought to be well assured of what he thinks or says. He who asserts as true that which he does not know to be true, is as guilty of falsehood as he who asserts as true what he knows to be false. It is not every possibility, every faint appearance, that is sufficient ground on which to rest a bad opinion of others. For truth is only seen in a very clear light; and "charity thinketh no evil."

There are, I think, few points which are not included in these three requirements of truth, and purity, and charity, There are, however, two cautions of detail which I would venture to suggest, because they appear to me to be of importance, if we, as Christ's disciples, are to exercise our right influence in society.

The first is, to avoid anything like a peculiar religious phraseology in

our conversation. I am convinced that nothing more repels, not only men of the world, but the great mass of average Christians, than the use by religious persons of studied phrases, and artificial modes of expression in their ordinary intercourse with others. Men are apt, though often without any reason, to suspect hypocrisy lurking under them; but with this unfortunate result, that a prejudice is too frequently thus created against religion itself. Simplicity and naturalness of manner is always winning; and it is of special importance when we are trying to recommend Christianity.

My second caution is this; that we guard against flippancy or familiarity in speaking upon religious subjects. Religion, in whatever form it appears, whether it is the religion of our own party or not, should always be treated with reverence; and I know of nothing that would more help to heal our divisions, to subdue party spirit, to promote unity in our Church, and to recommend it to the world, than that Christians of whatever school would recognise those great fundamental truths which we all hold in common, and seek for our grounds of agreement, dealing with all tenderness and charity with our points of difference.

One word more, and I have done. I fear that there are many Christians, well-disposed persons in the main, who nevertheless live much below the true standard, because they dissociate their religious acts, as they are called, from the ordinary pursuits and business of life. They are regular and conscientious in their religious duties, diligent in their private and public devotions; constant, it may be, in receiving the Holy Communion. But somehow they make religion one thing, and their ordinary business another thing. They do not interweave Christianity with the texture of their daily life. Now, what I am anxious to contend for is this, that personal holiness is the condition of the whole Christian life, and not of portions of it only. Look at that bright planet over your head. Mark its retirement from observation, its lowliness, its cheerfulness, its undeviating obedience to the law of its Creator. We know that at every point in its circuit it is influenced by the sun, round which it revolves; and it is that attractive power which restrains it, keeps it in its orbit, prevents it from flying off into unknown space, and working possible injury in its course. So if we would be kept in the path of duty, if we would be kept true to God, we must be attracted to the Sun of Righteousness at every point in our course. Thus shall we be enabled to travel on through worldly business and care with cheerfulness and humility, enlightening the world, and yet living above the world; ever shedding a holy, gentle, and real, though often imperceptible influence, over those amongst whom we move.

While speaking upon this subject I feel painfully conscious how far I fall below my own standard, and how greatly I need the counsel which I presume to offer to others. May it be found in the Day of Christ, that I have not spoken altogether in vain on this occasion, either to myself or to you.

Mr S. A. BLACKWOOD.

THE subject of Personal Holiness, as influencing the conduct of Christians in Society, is one of the most important, and at the same time the most difficult, that can engage our attention. It was the declension of personal holiness in their relation to the persons by whom they were surrounded that brought the judgment of God upon the world before the Flood, and the perilous character which is predicted of the last times consists, as I understand it, to a great extent, in the fact that the Church and the world will have become irremediably mingled. The salt will have lost its savour, and there will be no power to stay the rapidly-advancing corruption; the light will have been turned into twilight, or a mixture of light and darkness, and finally to darkness, and then "how great will be that darkness!" It will need the searching light of the presence of the returning Son of God, and the agency of the angels which excel in strength, to distinguish the precious from the vile, and to disentangle the wheat from the tares.

The difficulty of the subject arises, I believe, from a generally inadequate standard of personal holiness, and an indistinct perception of the real character of society.

Let me briefly state what I understand by those terms

1. Personal holiness.-This is of two kinds, objective and subjective. (a.) Objective, as when the vessels of the tabernacle or the Sabbathday were set apart for God. They were holy vessels: the seventh was a holy day; but no intrinsic change took place in them. Such is the objective holiness of a Christian, who is one set apart for God, one sprinkled with precious blood and holy oil. He is "holy unto the Lord."

(b.) Holiness is subjective when the object thus outwardly sanctified is inwardly the recipient of divine power or influence; as, for instance, when the tabernacle was filled with the cloud of the Divine Presence. A Christian is, in that sense, personally holy, when he is not only set apart to God by his calling and profession as a Christian, but when, and in proportion as, he is filled with the Holy Ghost, he is living in close union and communion with God. Such was the personal holiness, as outwardly manifested, of Moses, when his face shone with the glory of the God with whom he had been communing, and of Stephen, when, looking steadfastly up into heaven, "all they that sat in the council saw his face, as it had been the face of an angel."

Such I understand to be personal holiness. Separation unto God, as redeemed by blood from among men- being filled with the Holy Ghost as the temple of God.

2. What is society-The division of subjects assigned to us makes it evident that it is regarded as different from the little world of the family, and the large world of business, whether professional or commercial. It must be something equally distinct from the Church or congregation of faithful men, for it is the conduct of believing men in society which personal holiness is to influence.

I believe I shall not be far wrong in defining society as "the world,” or in other words, those surroundings of persons, scenes, and things in which we are placed by the providence of God, and out of which it is

not our unmistakable duty to remove.

I do not therefore regard it now

as comprising the racecourse, the theatre, or the ball-room, in which (though there may be some of very pure minds, but imperfect apprehension of the dignity of their Christian calling, who can move in them without danger), I cannot for a moment, as once a man of the world, imagine any one with a deep sense of the value of time, the worth of the soul, or the glory of God, taking part. I do not speak of society now as comprising such scenes.

Now, our difficulty here is that, whilst nominally Christian, society, or the world, is still the world, and therefore not of God. It has been baptized, but not converted. It has received a Christian name, but not a new nature. Society, modern society, in which we are placed, and which we cannot help touching at all points, is full of temptation, and is not, as a whole, on the side of, but in opposition to, the Father. It comprises "the lust of the eyes and the pride of life."

How then, being thus placed, will personal holiness influence our conduct.

1. It will not make us monks or nuns. Such was not the example left us by our Saviour; such was not the spirit of His prayer in John xvii. ; such was not the character of apostolic precept or example. We are not to be conformed to the world: but we are not to go out of the world. Neither are we to be ascetics; Christ is to be our example. He could share the festivities of the marriage scene; and I do not believe that there was any moroseness in Him which damped the innocent mirth of the day. He could equally sit, when bidden, at the Pharisee's dinner-table; and yet at both He was about His Father's business, and found opportunities-not forced either-of commending the truth, and manifesting the glory of God.

Jesus was personally holy, and He mixed in the society in which He was placed; but it was as the Light of the world and the salt of the earth. God's glory was not tarnished, but manifested thereby. In this He is to be our example.

2. Personal holiness will lead us to walk circumspectly, redeeming the time. It will make me watchful over my own soul, lest, forgetting my high privileges as an heir of the promises, I descend to the well-watered and attractive plains, and thus lose my own peace and joy, and my influence for good over my family and neighbours. It will make me guard against the soporific effects of the enchanted ground over which I am passing, the air of which tends to make me drowsy; it will make me watch and pray, lest, being surrounded by temptation at every point, I enter into temptation, and will make me seek to keep my garments, which have been washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb, unspotted from the world.

3. Again, the realisation of my personal holiness will afford me a true principle of guidance with regard to the scenes in which I should mix.

As one who is a member of a royal priesthood, I have my hand and foot and ear touched with precious blood, and can neither walk in ways, nor share in works, nor listen to words which partake of the sin from which that blood has redeemed and cleansed me, and to atone for which my Saviour died.

As one who is a temple of the Holy Ghost, I can share in nothing which

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us de re of a man of God was such that, as he walked, me durma the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and

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