Him frequently reiterating the same lesson, giving them line upon line, and precept upon precept. In the fourteenth verse of the chapter before us, He says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." A little further on he adds, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.' Again, He declares, "If any man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings; and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me." It is evident that there must be something specially important in this subject, or He would not have thought it necessary to advert to it so repeatedly.

And what topic can have higher claims upon our attention than that which is here set forth? The question "Lovest thou me?" is of all others the most momentous; and hence, to

ascertain whether the Saviour's love has been shed abroad in our hearts, is a matter that demands our most serious consideration. It is a point on which our present state and our future destiny depends. Without love to Christ, we cannot be the friends of Christ; and if we are not His friends, we are enemies to Him, by wicked works, and as such, we are exposed to His everlasting displeasure.

There are various ways in which we may evidence the sincerity of our love to Him, but the chiefis compliance with His commands. "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" It is not by the leaves of an empty profession nor by any blossoms or buds, however full of promise, which, after all, frequently prove abortive, that we are to be known, but by the actual fruits of holy, sincere, constant, and universal obedience. Such is the practical test, by which we should now examine ourselves, inasmuch as our acceptance

F

or rejection will turn upon it in the great day of final reckoning.

The commands which the Saviour enjoins are not grievous. He does not require us to offer thousands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oil; to make long and painful pilgrimages, to inflict tortures upon our bodies, or cover ourselves with sackcloth and ashes form no part of His demands. The rigours of superstition are altogether alien to the spirit of that gracious system which he came to establish. His yoke is easy and His burden is light; and all His injunctions are intended to promote our happiness, both here and hereafter. Let our language, then, be, "O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

15TH DAY.

"But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."-Mark xiii. 13.

The Needful THERE was great need

Caution.

for the Saviour to caution His followers against the sin of backsliding, inasmuch as many who had once identified themselves with His cause, went back, and walked with Him no more. In the times of the apostles also, the same danger existed, as appears from Paul's exhortation to the Hebrews-"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God," and a similar warning is by no means inapplicable in the present day.

That there is something peculiarly heinous in such conduct is evident from the following considerations:In the first place, it is a sin expressive of the most extreme folly. This feature belongs to every sin, and

therefore wicked men are frequently represented as fools; but this is especially the case with the sin of backsliding. What would be thought of persons in want of water, if they removed their tents from a full fountain which was close at hand, with the expectation of getting a larger supply by settling in a dry desert, where, with the greatest labour, they had to hew out for themselves cisterns-yea, broken cisterns, which could hold no water? Now, this is what we do when we depart from God; and hence both heaven and earth are called upon to wonder at such egregious folly-the folly of leaving Him who is the source of all felicity, and of engaging in the useless toil

"Of dropping buckets into empty wells,

And growing old in drawing nothing up." In the next place, it is a sin committed without any provocation whatever, there being nothing in the Blessed God to deserve such treat