glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord," or, margin, even as of the Lord the Spirit."

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In chap iv. 8: "We are perplexed (says he, recounting his trials in his Master's cause, we are perplexed) but not in despair," or, margin," not altogether without help or means.

In chap v., describing the great privileges and duties of a Christian he says, verse 17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature," or, margin, “let him be a new creature."

And in the same chapter, verse 8, having expressed, with divine energy, his hope of immortal glory, and wishing that he might be allowed (as he says elsewhere) "to depart and be with Christ," "to be absent from the body, and to be with the Lord," the great apostle checks his feelings, as it were, and seems to say-But, after all, the great question with me is, not whether I am present with Christ, or absent from him, but whether I am well-pleasing to him-living so as to be accepted of him; for this I "labor," or, margin, "endeavor." The original words occur only twice beside in the text, viz., Rom. xv. 20, where it is translated to "strive,” “I have strived to preach the gospel ;" and 1 Thes. iv. 11, where it is translated to "study," as, "study to be quiet." Literally, the word expresses in the text, it is the object of all my anxiety-all my ambition, "whether present or absent, to be accepted of him," to do what is well-pleasing in his sight.

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Now we must remember always, that St Paul's life was one of real hardship and affliction; yet he never repined or murmured at it, never wished that it should be otherwise. Rather he seems to have been apprehensive, lest the greatness of his privileges should have made him proud and self-confident; and, therefore, he was even thankful to be kept low, degraded, and despised, in his own opinion and that of the world around him.

"We preach not ourselves (says he), but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of

darkness, hath shined in our hearts, thereby producing the light of the glorious knowledge of God in Jesus Christ."

But (he goes on to say) we have this treasure, this inestimable heavenly privilege, this commission apostolical, in earthen vessels, in a frail corruptible body, in a mind subject to the common infirmities of mankind, to depression of spirits, to errors in judgment, that there may be no room for boasting, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

And then he sums up the account of his condition, balancing, as it were, the goods and the evils of it against each other. "Troubled on every side, yet not distressed ;-perplexed, but not altogether without help or means; persecuted, but not forsaken ;-cast down, but not destroyed: always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest, or appear exemplified in our body, in our mortal flesh, in our course of life.

"And though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding, yea, an eternal weight of glory.'

He then proceeds (in this fifth chapter) to express his anxiety to be approved and accepted of his Lord and Master, as if that were the feeling which absorbed, as it were, and swallowed up all others in his heart.

"We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

"We know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord; and we desire rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." But, however, the object of all our ambition, what we "endeavor" and "labor" after, is, " that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him," and well-pleasing in his sight;" for we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ."

That St. Paul's religion, then, was no shadow, but somewhat solid and substantial, is evident.

It greatly concerns us to ascertain, each person for himself, whether we have herein followed the holy example of the apostle; what, in the time past of our lives, has been our chief trouble and anxiety; whether (if we have indeed been in earnest in our Christian profession) we were chiefly concerned about the state of our feel ings, or the course of our practice; whether, in short, our chief "labor," ambition, and anxiety, have been, "that whether," comfortable or uncomfortable, " present or absent, we may be accepted of, and well-pleasing unto, him."

This is an inquiry which it greatly concerns all sincere Christians to make with seriousness and impar tiality, and may the blessed Spirit of God enable us so to do, to our everlasting good.

Now it is to be considered and deplored, that vast numbers of persons do go on through life to old age and their death-beds, without caring at all, much less laboring, to be accepted by the Lord Jesus Christ. Not that they are altogether without religion: they would be very sorry to think they could be so; but then their religion is too much of a selfish kind; not what will please their God and Savior, but what will make themselves comfortable and safe.

It ought, then, to be a great question with each of us:-have I really, in the time past of my life, been anxious and in earnest about my spiritual condition? And if we can answer, yes, to this question, we have so far reason to be thankful. But more than this; we must go on to ask-what has my religious seriousness consisted in? Has it been an anxiety chiefly, or only, to feel comfortable and safe; or has it been an anxiety to do and suffer according to God's will, and against my own? And if, again, we can have the comfort of an swering, yes, to this inquiry also, still another question remains;-Have we actually endeavored to put this our conviction into practice; have we, by divine aid, labored as the apostle says-that whether present or absent, whether feeling the comfort of God's presence or not, we may be accepted by him-be well-pleasing in his

sight? And if we can indeed, with all humility, answer this question favorably, then we have indeed reason to be thankful to our heavenly Father, Savior, and Guide, who has done so much for our souls, and to beseech him that he would never leave us nor forsake us; but that we may continue in that state of salvation into which he has brought us, unto our life's end.

But still, as the matter is one of great importance, and one wherein we may too easily deceive ourselves, let us consider a little what is implied in so solemn an assertion as that of the holy apostle in the text. "It is the object of all my ambition, anxiety, and labor, that, whether present or absent, in prosperity or adversity, in joy or sorrow, in hope or fear, I may be acceptable to my Lord and Master Christ Jesus."

This then, I suppose, is the point which we all ought to aim at, and short of which we ought not to rest satisfied, to be always so behaving ourselves as to be acceptable and well-pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are perhaps too apt to shelter ourselves under the general terms of religion and seriousness (neither of which words are to be found in the Bible, at least not in the sense in which they are commonly understood); it were better to proceed at once by the apostolic rule, The doing what is well-pleasing to our Lord and Master.

But possibly a person may say, that if we are serious and religious we are sure to be acceptable to Christ Jesus. Rather, I should think it safer to say, if we lead life well-pleasing to him we are sure to be serious and religious.

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And to show that this is not a distinction without a difference, we need only call to mind the character of the Scribes and Pharisees as set forth in the New Testament. They were surely serious and religious persons, as much so as Jews could be, in common opinion at least, but far indeed from being accepted of God, though themselves had clearly no doubt of their acceptableness.

And so in these times it is a dangerous thing for a person to conclude that he is what he ought to be, be

cause he is considered by others and esteems himself to be serious and religious.

That is not the question-the question is, whether he really labors to be acceptable and well-pleasing to Jesus Christ. At least this is the rule of the holy apostle, and who shall dare to gainsay it.

You see then that the ruling principle of the Christian's life, in which I include the daily course of his thoughts, words, and actions, is, to please the Lord Jesus Christ, to be accepted of him.

And this principle the true Christian will "labor" to be guided by under all discouragements, "whether present or absent," as the text says, whether the world, the Christian world, frowns or smiles on him; nay, more than this, whether he feel (what are called) the consolations of the Spirit or not. For this probably may be the meaning of the expression, "whether present or absent;" as much as to say, this is not to be brought into the calculation; the only question is, am I or am I not, doing what is acceptable and well-pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ.

If this were attended to, it would make a greater difference in the views and practices even of religiously disposed persons, and much more of others, than can easily be believed. This may be illustrated by one or two familiar examples.

We may suppose the case of persons decent and respectable in society-honest, punctual, and civil in their neighborhood-only given occasionally to swear when they are provoked, and unfortunately seldom or never going to any place of worship, as the modern phrase is.

Such persons go through life what is called very creditably; their swearing a little now and then, or their not going to church, are small matters in the world's view: religion does not consist in forms, it is said, and why may not God be worshipped at home or in the field as well as within four walls?

So the wicked world passes people off: but when the soul of the negligent Christian appears before its God,