it. Probably to many just requests that will be made of you in the course of the day, you will reply in an impatient tone or an ungracious manner, because it annoys you to have your habits of self-indulgence broken in upon.

There are other duties not positively enjoined on us by others, but strongly enforced in the Word of God, and often brought before us in their fulfilment by others. One of these is visiting and ministering to the wants of the sick and the poor. Many self-indulgent persons, who still preserve tender consciences, are perpetually pained by being reminded of the existence of this duty and its nonfulfilment on their part. The Word of God, the example of others, even the light reading of their idlest hours, keep up a constantly-recurring sense of a marked and serious deficiency in their plan of life. They may not, if they would, forget that the Saviour himself,

in His representatives, the poor*, is constantly offering them an opportunity for the fulfilment of a great Christian duty, or its neglect.

Are you constantly pained by witnessing the zeal, the untiring energy, the spirit of love and self-denial manifested by your fellow Christians in their ministrations to the poor? Perhaps the pain may even extend to irritation against those whose conduct contrasted with your own has awakened the consciousness of error? Or, perhaps, you are even annoyed that such an unpleasant and troublesome duty should exist at all? Watch yourself whether, during the course of this day, such emotions are in any form, or in any degree, excited in your heart. Look upon the pain they give you, as a merciful warning of decided error, and act upon your conviction instantly; otherwise the warning may never be repeated,

• Matthew, xxv. 40.

or, still more fearful punishment, the heart may become too hardened to ob

serve it.

A

Impartial self-examination will prove to you that it is from disobedience to the apostolic injunction, "be sober, be vigilant," that the duty of active personal exertion for the good of others is neglected, or looked upon as an irksome duty. state of sober-mindedness has the important advantage of keeping the mind braced and vigorous; in a state of readiness, first, for the perception of duty, then for its fulfilment. Christian vigilance requires to be as keenly exercised for the guarding against sins of omission, as against sins of commission.

I have said nothing of the exquisite pleasure the self-indulgent voluntarily resign when their plan of life excludes the occupation of visiting and ministering to the poor. Pleasure, indeed, is the inseparable consequence of every fulfilment

of duty, but this above all others. It is not, however, as a source of personal enjoyment and improvement that its fulfilment is now urged upon you, but as obligatory obedience to the positive commands of God. It is a solemn consideration, that, in the description of the last judgment, given by our Saviour himself, the alleged test of a title "to inherit”* the kingdom of heaven is the practice of beneficence towards those who are in need. thankful, then, for any, the most painful, way in which your former neglect of duty may by this day's discipline be brought before you. Hearken to the warning voice, follow in the path it marks out for you, and you will soon cease to look upon the duty of hardworking and self-denying exertion for the good of others as a part of your daily

cross.

Be

Finally, I must give a few words of

notice to a species of intellectual enjoyment that is directly opposed to a state of sober-mindedness. I do not allude to the vulgar excitement into which the most common-place mind may be thrown by the injudicious perusal of highlywrought works of fiction or poetry. The danger I would warn you against is peculiar to a different class of characters, to a higher order of intellect. It is also excitement, but the excitement is exclusively intellectual. It can only be felt by those who have the power of appreciating genius and taste in their highest, purest forms. That the exquisite and elevating enjoyment of such appreciation can be altogether forbidden will never be admitted by those who believe in a final cause for every emotion that is in itself innocent. But the duty of controlling it, and indulging it with moderation and vigilance," is incumbent on all those who aim at sobriety of mind.

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Here, again, the daily cross, by the