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hues; let us do our work with strong and patient hearts; there are pleasures which are deeper, though less sparkling, than those we remember with a sigh; the autumn has its beauty as well as the spring; there is a joy of him that reapeth as well as of him that soweth; and while the blade and the ear are for the present world, the ripe corn is for the garner of God in heaven.

XXVII.

A MINISTER'S PRAYER.

BEING A LETTER TO MY PEOPLE ON ST. PAUL'S PRAYER FOR THE EPHESIANS.

EPHESIANS iii. 17, 18, 19—" That ye being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length, and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge."

MY DEAR FRIENDS,-I wish to make this prayer of the Apostle my prayer for you. I do so because the blessing it asks is one of the highest any one can desire for those he loves. I do so because it is a blessing which it peculiarly belongs to the Christian ministry, under God's grace, and by every means of prayer and of teaching, to endeavour to provide. "To know the love of Christ;" mark the expression; not simply to know about it, but to know it; to realize it as a possession of our own; thoroughly and undoubtingly to believe, and vividly and realizingly to feel, that there is One in heaven, a living Person to whom all power has been committed in heaven and upon the earth, and who bears us in His heart

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with an affection no less true, nay, far more deep and unchangeable, than that of the most trusted fellow-creature;-what better blessing could there be? When all is going smoothly with us, and we are living on in a quiet, easy, commonplace way, we may not feel so much as we ought to do the value of Christ's love. There are times, however, in the life of every man, when the soul is forced to acknowledge that it requires support from without itself. There are times when the sense of weakness comes upon one like a faint, perhaps in the prospect of duties which seem too great for his ability, perhaps under the pressure of burdens which appear too heavy for him to bear. We know the value of human friendship in such a case. We know what a relief it is to pour our troubles or our anxieties into the ear of one in whom we can confide, who understands us, and who, we are sure, will feel for us. Such is the value of human friendship. But to know the love of Christ, how incomparably more precious still! This is to know of one who is far more sure to enter sympathizingly into all our anxiety than any human friend, and far more able

to speak peace to our souls.

fail us;
but Christ never.
forget us; but Christ never.

Human friends may Human friends may

Human friends may

misinterpret us; but Christ never. From human friends we may be separated; but from Christ never. Many emergencies there are, in which, however willing, our human friends cannot assist us; but none can arise too great for Him. There is a time when human friends, however stedfast, must quit our side, and there is a place in which they cannot bear us company-they cannot cross with us the river of death;-but to know the love of Christ is to know of One who can give us solace even in that last necessity. In a word, to know the love of Christ—it is might in weakness; it is patience in tribulation; it is strength for living; it is hope in dying; it is heaven brought down to earth; it is heaven dwelling within the soul.

I rejoice to regard it as the leading function of the ministerial office to proclaim the love of Christ. No doubt, there are "terrors of the Lord" which must not be kept out of view. But it is the love of Christ which supplies, or ought to supply, the great argument of the Christian teacher. "The terrors of the Lord" are to be brought forward just for the purpose of leading men to value and embrace the love of Christ. Of this we are to speak to the ignorant, that they may not continue ignorant of

what is so momentous and so blessed. Of this to the degraded and profane, as the strongest of all powers to bring them to repentance and amendment of life. Of this to the awakened, conscience-smitten sinner, as of a love not purchased by merit, nor kept back from those that have no merit, but springing from the depths of Christ's own heart, and free to all, if they will only believe it. When the faithful Christian is to be urged forward in the way of holiness, what motive can we press so powerful and affecting as the love of Christ? Or if it is our aim to help him out of the fears which may sometimes distress him, to comfort him in adversity, to cheer him on a sick-bed, or to smooth his dying pillow, it is still the love of Christ upon which we must dwell.

There is something very remarkable about the language in which the Apostle speaks of the love of Christ. It is extremely simple, yet very impressive. It is that kind of language which a man employs when his thought is too great for his words. He speaks of the "breadth, and length, and depth, and height" of the love of Christ. Now, this is just such phraseology as a man would take refuge in, when unable to express the greatness of his own idea. It is just such language as any

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