fulfil thoroughly as we pour out all our strength and summon all our energies for the final struggle. Let us not waste our power and our time over anything meaner than a full and thorough conquest of the adversary whom we desire totally to defeat.

Examples. - Bishop Latimer was not such a deeply-read scholar as Cranmer or Ridley. He could not quote Fathers from memory as they did. He refused to be drawn into arguments about antiquity. He stuck to his Bible. Yet it is

not too much to say that no English reformer made such a lasting impression on the nation as old Latimer did. And what was the reason? His simple zeal. Baxter, the Puritan, was not equal to some of his contemporaries in intellectual gifts. It is no disparagement to say that he does not stand on a level with Manton or Owen. Yet few men probably exercised so wide an influence on the generation in which he lived. And what was the reason? His burning zeal. Whitefield, and Wesley, and Berridge, and Venn were inferior in mental attainments to Bishops Butler and Watson. But they produced effects which fifty Butlers and Watsons would probably never have produced. And what was one secret of their power? Their zeal-Ryle.

Perfection of Action. As virtue is the perfection of human life, so is action the perfection of virtue; and zeal is that perfection of action which I require in a saint of God. Such an one was Moses, "mighty in word and deed," as well as "learned in all the ways of the Egyptians." Such an one was St. Stephen, as full of a divine ardour and irresistible fervency of spirit as of an irresistible wisdom; and such an one was the irresistible Cornelius, a devout man, one that had transfused and derived the fear of God from his own bosom,

throughout his family, and relations, and friends too-one that gave much alms, and prayed to God always. What need I multiply instances? This is that which distinguishes the perfect man from all others-the victories of faith, the labours of charity, the conthe ardours of devotion.-Lucas. stancy and patience of hope, and

"Zeal of God."-There is no quality of the mind by which men, even good men, are more apt to be misled than zeal; particularly zeal in religion, "zeal of God," as St. Paul terms it. Where the object is good, the quality is of high value; "it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing;" and, beyond controversy, no object can be better than the promotion of God's glory and the furtherance of His religion. But it ought not to carry us beyond the bounds of moderation. It ought to be regulated by a correct knowledge of the nature and character of the religion which we profess, and which we are desirous of furthering; and it ought to be brought into subjection to the dictates of that religion-a religion not furious, fiery, implacable, cruel but "peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." They who act for the furtherance of that religion in a manner inconsistent with its dictates show that, however sincere be their "zeal of God," it is "not according to knowledge," or "that they know not what manner of spirit they are of." Every deviation from the rules of charity and brotherly love, of gentleness and forbearance, of meekness and patience, which our Lord prescribes to His disciples, however it may appear to be founded on an attachment to Him and zeal for His service, is in truth a departure from the religion of Him, "the Son of man," who "came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them.”—Mant.

INDEX.

[Repetition of the divisional words, in the following index, has been almost

entirely avoided.]

AFFLICTION

19

47

47

47

48

48

48

49

49

49

49

50

50

50

51