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answered. There are no blessings which on this ground you are not privileged to ask, and there are no blessings which He has not pledged Himself to bestow. He has given you Christ, and with Him you may rest assured He will freely give you all things. "Be no longer faithless then but believing."

And while you commune much with God in earnest, believing prayer, let the fruit of your prayers be seen in your cautious, circumspect walk in the world. The face of Moses shone when he came down from the Mount; let your souls shine, reflecting the glorious image of Christ, and let every lineament of the Saviour's likeness be so apparent, that "all may take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus," that you have learned" of Him who is meek and lowly of heart, and have found rest unto your souls." Live in love, and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION.

CHAPTER I.

NECESSITY OF STRIVING TO ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

MAT. VII. 13-20.

We have now concluded the consideration of the two great divisions of the Sermon on the Mount, the one relating to the righteousness of the Scribes, the other to the righteousness of the Pharisees; and it only remains that we consider the important and impressive prac-> tical exhortations with which our blessed Redeemer closes this truly instructive discourse. His chief design in addressing His hearers from the Mount was to explain and enforce the true nature and principles of the kingdom of God, or that eternal life which, begun on earth, is consummated in heaven. And as a fitting conclusion to the whole He urges the absolute necessity of strenuous exertion in pressing into the kingdom and seeking to overcome the numerous obstacles which hindered their entrance into life.

Vv. 13 and 14. "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth

to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

The grand object at which Jesus exhorts all men habitually to aim, and after which He exhorts them to strive, is, that they may obtain "life" and avoid "destruction" or eternal death. Both are represented as splendid mansions. The road to the one is narrow, and the gate of entrance strait; the road to the other is broad, and the gate of entrance wide. Few find admission to the one; multitudes crowd into the other. The one is a mansion of eternal bliss, the other a mansion of eternal woe. Employing this figure then our Lord exhorts all to "enter in at the strait gate," or, as it is still more strongly expressed by Luke, "strive," or agonize, contend as in a combat, to enter in, evidently conveying the idea of extreme difficulty. The same idea is represented throughout the whole of the Sacred Scriptures. We must "fight," "labour," wrestle," "run," if we would lay hold on eternal life." There must be an effort of faith, and an effort so strong as to overcome all difficulties, to surmount all obstacles, and to press into the kingdom. "For the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."

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The language of this passage is evidently designed to intimate that there are many difficulties in the way

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