redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, are under the most solemn obligation, not only to exemplify His Gospel in their spirit and conduct, but to consecrate their time, talents, and property unreservedly to the work of extending His cause, and publishing His salvation throughout the world.

The brief and imperfect enumeration, which has now been given, may serve as a specimen of the several kinds of truth which you should sedulously labor to acquire. These you are to collect and seal up as your choicest treasure; and you will find that such a treasure will furnish your minds with saving knowledge; fortify your hearts against opposition and error; satisfy your spirits amidst doubts and difficulties; teach you to profit by every dispensation of God's providence; and prepare you for fiery trials, and the fiercest assaults of persecution. You cannot stand for truths which you do not know, and you will not stand for those which you do not adopt, and highly value. You are to hold fast what you have received; and, therefore, you should receive what you may retain, and live up to, and live upon, in an evil day. As a minister, so a private member of the church must hold fast the faithful word, as he hath been taught. He must maintain truth with all his might, struggle and contend for it, and, if need be,

die in its defence.

Truth and our souls must be

married, and never divorced. There are truths on which we may venture our souls, and for which, should the necessity arise, we must venture our lives. It has been atheistically said by some, that the martyrs in Queen Mary's days died in a pet, and were too prodigal of their blood; and that God requires no man to be cruel to himself for His sake. But true believers have otherwise learned Christ than to deny Him or His truth before men; for they would not be denied by Him on another day. They have so learned to love Him as to lay down their lives for Him, if He call them to it; and thus, by being overcome, they overcome, as their Master did before them. "They overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." It is the duty of every Christian to lay up in the cabinet of his heart such truths as he may live and die by, and to adhere closely and constantly to them. We must do by truth as Cæsar did by his books, when, having to swim through a river to escape the fury of his enemies, he carried his books above the water with his hand, but lost his robe. Thus, should we be called to swim through a sea of trouble in following the Lamb, we must keep the Lord's deposit, even though we lose our garments of earthly enjoy

ment; and must sooner part with life itself than with the sacred and saving truths contained in the Book of God. "Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go, keep her, for she is thy life." Hence, many have been willing to be burnt themselves rather than give up their Bibles to be burnt; and have chosen to be racked for the truth, sooner than suffer themselves to be rent from the truth. It is our high and imperative duty at once to hold fast the word of life, and to hold it forth; to be witnesses to it actively, and witnesses for it passively; and if we maintain it, it will maintain us. "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation." The word of Christ's patience may be taken for such truth as produces, when received, a quiet, composed, and submissive frame of spirit; or for that which demands the exercise of patience, inasmuch as it may call its professors to endure great hardships in its support, and even to lay down their lives for it. A Christian must never flinch, but, in the strength of God, encounter the greatest perils and sufferings for approved, experienced, and vital truths. "I know," says Bishop Hall, "there is a difference in truths, and in the value which we are to set upon them, as in coins, whereof one piece is a farthing, and another no less than a pound." Let this, however, be to you a compre

hensive and inviolablerule-despise not the smallest truth--prove all things by the authority of Scripture-lay up and hold fast whatever is consonant to it; yet, at the same time, place the greatest stress on those truths which are fundamental; and having once made them your own, be not driven to surrender them by a world in arms.

CHAPTER XI.

CULTIVATION OF CHRISTIAN GRACES.

ANOTHER class of precious commodities, which a Christian should treasure up, is, divine graces. Every grace is of vast worth, and of excellent use. Even the least degree of sincere grace is of more value than a mine of gold, or a prince's crown and kingdom. It is said of the grace of faith, that the trial of it—that is, faith tried in the furnace of affliction,—is much more precious than gold that perisheth. No finite mind can set a right and perfect estimate on a grain of true grace, which is no other than the offspring of Heaven, the purchase of Christ's blood, and the blessed fruit of His Spirit. It is part of the Divine nature, the image. of God, the seed of immortality. Grace is the defence and the ornament of the soul; the brightest glory and accomplishment of a Christian. Let worldlings toil to gather great estates, filling their houses with goods, their barns with grain, and their bags with gold; but let the pious soul seek to be filled with the fruits of righteousness, the graces of the Spirit.