follies of those around you. If you are consulted by another, if you are disposed to pass through life easily, you must not give him your candid opinion, but find out what are his own views, and then make a point of falling in with his wishes. The satirist may ridicule all this. The Christian will mourn over it. He will grieve when he thinks of the pride and self-will that lead to it. He will grieve when he looks upon the disingenuousness, and insincerity, and hypocrisy, that disfigure the fabric of society. He will see a melancholy evidence of the ruined state of our human nature, in the morbid irritability which men evince when brought under the searching influence of truth.

The principle of which we speak is in operation all around us; but it is in nothing more active than in what concerns the spiritual condition of man. The world has ever hated, as it ever will hate, men of piety. Their faith and practice reprove the world. And they are obliged, by their allegiance to the King of heaven, to bear their testimony against the world. As they pro

phesy no good concerning it, but evil, it is not to be marvelled at that the world hates them. We all know that this is the common feeling against persons that will not keep terms with sin. They are regarded as enemies of the sinner, because they are the enemies of his sin, and the sinner is pretty sure to pay them back a bitter hostility. Hence the slanders and insinuations that are directed against the Christian-hence the frequent charge of hypocrisy, and the invidious apology of weakness. All comes from the world's hatred of godliness. And the world's hatred of godliness comes from the pride of our depraved hearts, that will not away with contradiction or opposition: "I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil."

In whatever station he may be placed, the Christian must not expect the world's favour. He is warned by his Saviour to marvel not if the world hate him. Still a private Christian may often serve God in his generation, without exposing himself to any very marked dislike. It may happen

that he may be chiefly known to those around him, for those parts of his renewed character, that none can see brought out into action without admiring. He may be known as one who, like his Master, goes about doing good. He may be known as active in benevolence, as gentle and modest in deportment, as humble and peaceable. He may never be called upon to denounce sin, to warn, to threaten. And consequently, he may feel little of the world's hatred of the truth. But let him be made prominent in any way-put him in an office in which he is obliged conspicuously, by word or work, to bear his testimony against the world's vanities, and carelessness, and unbelief; and it will not be long before he will hear said of him, in shouts or whispers, "I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.”

Most of all, perhaps, must the ministers of the Gospel expect this. They are appointed "to preach the word; to be instant in season, out of season; to reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine." And they cannot perform their

duty without exposing themselves to the world's hatred. They have to set forth truths from which the heart of man recoils in abhorrence. They have to preach the Scriptural doctrine, that man is a fallen being; to tell every particular man that he has sinned, and come short of the glory of God. They have to tell the impenitent sinner, that if he dies in his sins, he must die for ever; and to remind the selfrighteous, that by the deeds of the law no flesh can be justified. They have to say to all, that nothing unholy or unclean can enter heaven-that until the heart is renewed, and every thought brought into captivity to the Gospel of Christ, it is in subjection to the power of Satan. They have to proclaim the great truth, that there is but one name under heaven given among men, by which they can be saved; and to call upon every one who hears them to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith he is called. Their life must correspond with their teaching. "In all things they must shew themselves patterns of good works." They must be "examples of the believers,

The

in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." If they faithfully fulfil these duties, they are little likely to escape the hatred of the world. most contradictory charges are continually preferred against them. The self-righteous person, who is trusting to his own doings and good intentions, will accuse them of decrying holiness, because they insist on dependence on the merits of the Saviour. The careless person who thinks, if he thinks at all, that the Gospel has relaxed the strictness of the Divine law, will charge them with unnecessary severity. The cry will be-or, at all events, the feeling will be—“ I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." The truth-the melancholy truth is, that numbers attend our churches who cannot bear reproof. They like well enough the sounding brass and tinkling cymbal, which will gratify the ear; but there must be no attack upon their sins, no wrestling with their prejudices, no breaking down their false hopes. That minister of the Gospel may well suspect himself of unfaithfulness, who does not