draweth nigh. The day of vengeance is in his heart, and the year of his redeemed is come. Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

SERMON VII.

CHRISTIANS A LIGHT.

"Ye are the light of the world."-MATT. 5: 14.

THE primitive church was not without its imperfections. There were doubtless to be found among its members, extremes of character as great, if not greater, than exist at the present day. There were degrees of merit and demerit, quite as marked and striking as are to be found now. Indeed, there is reason to believe, that as there were insulated cases of greater eminence in Christian knowledge and excellence than are to be found at the present time, so, on the other hand, the mass of professing Christians were less enlightened, and there existed among them more glaring faults and imperfections of character. Possibly the proportion of false and hypocritical professions that were then made, was not as great as it is at present, as they were subjected to a far more rigid and sifting ordeal, in espousing the Christian cause, than any to which we are now exposed.

I offer these remarks to prepare you to appreciate the force of another, which I am about to

make. It is this, that it was of the members of that very church, which was so full of faults and imperfections, and even hypocrisies, that our Saviour said, "Ye are the salt of the earth; ye are the light of the world." He was, indeed, addressing those who were ordained to be the future ministers of his religion. But it was their Christian, and not their official character, that lay at the foundation of their qualifications for this work. He spoke, therefore, of the members of his church, and intended to include all who either were or might become his true disciples. They were "the salt of the earth, the light of the world."

But do you not often hear the enemies of Christ's church crying out against it, because of the imperfection of some of its members, and the hypocrisy of others; and denouncing all religion, because those who profess it are not perfect? Can there be a doubt, that when Judas apostatized,-Judas, not only a disciple but an apostle of Christ, not only an apostle but one of the twelve whom Christ had selected to be his personal and confidential friends, the cry of hypocrisy was rung through all the ranks of Christ's enemies, and every disciple was branded as a hypocrite and a knave! So it is at the present day. But, notwithstanding this, as it was then, so it is now, the church, with all its lamentable deficiencies and imperfections, is the light of the world. It embodies all the practical and visible religion there is on earth. Let those,

then, whose delight it is to defame the church, because all her members are not what they profess to be, remember that, in their judgment of this body, they and Christ are at variance; that while they regard it to be a fraternity of hypocrites, he holds it to be the light of the world. For this inimical and defamatory judgment, he holds them responsible. "He that despiseth you," said Christ, despiseth me."

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But, let us now proceed to examine into the nature and conditions of the fact which our Saviour here affirms.

He does not say that the church ought to be, or will be, the light of the world; he declares that it is. And the truth of this assertion is as obvious, as it is that there is a true church on earth. It is inseparable from the nature of genuine, evangelical religion, that it should diffuse round about it a moral and spiritual light. It is impossible to be a living Christian and not be the centre of an influence that shall be radiated, in the power and light of truth, upon surrounding minds. Christians have been qualified and endowed for this specific end, by the Spirit of God. They have been "created anew in Christ Jesus, unto good works." They have been called out of darkness into God's marvellous light, that they might show forth his praise. It is the revealed purpose of God to fill the earth with his glory; to illumine every mind with his truth. But what other active and re

sponsible agency has he designated for this purpose, or what other can he employ to effect this end, than that of his church? This work has been put into her hands, and the most solemn charge given to her from her Lord, to do it faithfully and quickly. Now, it is in this character, and with reference to this object, that Christ calls her the light of the world. The Philippian Christians were employed in this work when Paul said of them, that they lived in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom, says he, "ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life," or, if the verb be translated imperatively, as it probably ought to be, it will read "Among whom shine ye as lights in the world.”

I propose, then, to call your attention to the

manner in which this ministration is effected.

HOW IS IT THAT CHRISTIANS BECOME EFFECTIVELY THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD?

And let me, in the beginning of this discussion, remark, that Christians have no spiritual light of their own to disseminate. It is true, that from being once darkness, they are now light in the Lord, but it is because God has shined into their hearts, to impart to them the true knowledge of his glory. And this is the source of that light which they are to communicate to others. "I," says Christ, "am the light of the world." There is its high, inexhaustible, and glorious source. From the grace and truth of Christ every ray of