thoughts are important. When God judges of the character of a man he does not take the evidence that streams from his life, but he looks at the thoughts that circulate in his heart. A court of justice in this world. can only judge of the man by what he has done or said, but the great God judges of you and me by what we are. We can infer character only from its evidences, but He can pronounce upon character by a minute, accurate, and infallible inspection of the soul. Therefore, when God seeks to know what man is, he looks at what man thinks. The reason for this is obvious. Our thoughts, after all, are the truest evidences of what we are; and if our thoughts be sincere, right or wrong, they grow up into life and action. What is a deed? A thought incarnate. What is a word? A thought going from one heart and penetrating and lodging in another. Our acts are the embodiments of our thoughts, and outer life the illuminated dial that reveals the movements of inward, intellectual, and moral machinery. A man's deep thoughts will therefore write themselves upon his outer life; and upon the leaves of his every-day conduct they will be legible to all. Take care of your inmost thoughts, and you may leave your actions to take care of themselves. Take care of what goes on within, and you may leave to all contingencies what may appear without. "As a man thinketh," the Scripture says, "so is he." We may mistake the character of a man by his outer acts. There is not a deed the most equivocal on earth that has not in it modifying elements, which we may not be able to disentangle, but which God can appreciate and judge. Our inferences, therefore, of character from

conduct are only approximations to that which is perfect; but God looks into the thoughts of the heart, he sees them afar off; thoughts looming in the distant horizon almost inappreciable by us, are all clearly seen, and their force accurately calculated, by Him who cannot err. Man asks, what you do God inquires,. what you think.

Some, however, do not think at all upon this momentous subject; and if they were asked, "What do you think of Christ?" their answer would probably be:-"We do not think at all; we have never thought upon the subject." I cannot conceive anything more monstrous than not to have thought on that subject which is the most vital and momentous of all. Ask the statesman, "Have you never thought on politics, or studied the science of government?" he would be ashamed to say he never had. Ask the philosopher, "Are you acquainted with this science, or that discovery; have you studied this phenomenon or that?" and he would be ashamed to say, "I have never entertained the subject at all." It is singular enough that if you ask a man, "Have you any reason to believe that your soul will be saved, when the body, its outward case, is disintegrated and dissolved in the dust? Have you any reason to infer that Christ is your Saviour? Have you any reason to think that His precious blood has washed you from your sins?" This would be the answer of many: "Oh, we have no time for that; business is so harassing, the world is so absorbing! And, besides, these are questions for theologians, not for laymen. We do not desire to entertain them-we cannot discuss them-we have no

time to spare for them." And yet year after year, like successive sea waves, is bearing you, whether you like it or not, to the judgment-seat of God. And, monstrous absurdity! terrible anomaly! you have never entertained the startling question, "What will be the end of me? Whither am I going? Is it to hell or to heaven: is it to joy unspeakable and full of glory, or is it to where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched?" Indecision upon this subject is a crime, but thoughtlessness is absolute insanity. To think of all subjects but the great one to have one's mind made up upon all questions but the mightiest and most momentous of all!-I appeal to rational men for a verdict-judge ye. In truth the nature of this gospel, and the claims of Christ, are such that it is impossible that you can be neutral. If Christianity be not true, its pretensions are so great, its claims so magnificent, its assertions so dogmatic, that if not inspired truth, it is the most stupendous imposture that was ever palmed upon mankind. I respect the man-I deeply deplore the result, but I respect the man-who says, "I believe there is no God; I believe the Bible is a fable; I believe Christianity is a dream." Make up your minds, examine, weigh, and if you come to that conclusion I will pity you for your terrible mistake, I will try to undeceive you, and pray for you that you may become wiser;-yes, there is sense in this: but if you hear those momentous questions, and hear Sunday after Sunday those solemn and stirring subjects which angels cannot behold in apathy, and which men, the subjects of them, ought to be stirred to the depths of their souls by the very sound of,-I say, if you hear

these subjects Sunday after Sunday, and remain, not undecided, but positively thoughtless, I have no language strong enough to deplore your criminality, or to express your insanity. Deliberate rejection of the Bible is a consistency—an awful consistency, yet a consistency still; but disregard of the claims of Christianity, is altogether unjustifiable in the sight of man, or in the presence of God. Let me ask, therefore, Have you thought of Christ? Have you put this question to yourselves? Have you given as much time to the claims put forward for the gospel of Christ, as you have given to the investigation of an interesting problem, to the study of a leaf or the petals of a flower, to astronomy, to literature, to poetry, to politics? Have you given as much time to the study of the gospel, as you have given to the arrangement of a drawing-room, to the composition of a scrap-book, or other study proper in its place, that pleased, and interested, and instructed? Have you determined to ascertain what this Book is, whence it came, how it can be explained, whether He who is its Alpha and its Omega be what the preacher says he is, or a deceiver of the people? If you have not, your responsibility is great indeed. The Atheist even will not be condemned for his atheism, but for not expending upon the study of the evidence of a God, and the claims of Christ, the time he has expended in far inferior and subordinate things. The thoughtless man, who concludes that Christianity is untrue, will not be condemned simply for rejecting the gospel, but for having exercised a care, an anxiety, and a caution about the things of this life, one tithe of which he never expended on the momentous things

of God, the soul, eternity, and a judgment-seat. In these remarks there is the strongest reason. It is

not fanaticism-it is common sense; it is not extravagance it is the plainest deduction of every-day

reason.

We have thus analyzed the word "think" in the sense of meditation, investigation, or discussion of the claims put forward by the gospel; but the word translated "think," is used in Scripture in the sense of esteem. "What do you think of Christ ?" or, how far do you esteem him as the greatest, the wisest, the best of beings-the only name given among men whereby you can be saved? If you have right thoughts of Christ, those thoughts will embody themselves in ardent and enthusiastic esteem of him; if you believe that Jesus is what he assumes to be, that He has done what the Scripture declares, that he came from a height of glory to which imagination never soared, and descended to a depth of sorrow, of agony, and woe, that human plumb-line never fathomed; if you believe that all this was for you-sinners, his enemies,—your thoughts, as such, will end in the warmest esteem, and that esteem will give colouring and direction to the whole current and character of your personal, and social, and eternal life. Do you esteem him, do you enthrone him in your hearts? When any question of conduct is put before you, do you discuss it in his light? When a line of duty is submitted to you, do you say, not, Will this please this great man? Will that conciliate that powerful party? but, Is it consonant to the mind of Christ? Will it bear inspection in his light? Tested by his word, will it stand? And if you find