may speak confidently, and act fearlessly, and even consent to suffer for a good cause, and yet be the Devil's martyrs, because their only motive is, to gain reputation among men, to uphold an opinion, to please a faction, to gratify a caprice, or merit something at the hands of God. The motive makes or mars the action. Vain glory spoils great achievements. Many bear the cross who do not follow Christ. They are conformed to Him in the fact of suffering, but very unlike Him in the temper with which they suffer. But such will never receive the reward of those who suffer for Christ's sake. The same may be said of prayer, of almsgiving, of duties that involve selfmortification, or of any other excellent ways of laying out a treasure. If they spring from no higher principle than that men may take notice of them, the work is as if it were not done, and the doer in danger of being undone.

Subordinate to the glory of God, the good of our own souls and of the souls of others should be the result to which all our labors are directed. God has so closely connected His glory and the good of souls, that both may be promoted together. "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God; that God in all things

may be glorified through Jesus Christ." Thus feel and act. Make the glory of God the ultimate end of your being, and seek to advance that glory by care for your own salvation, and by intense and ceaseless efforts for the salvation of a dying world.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE EXCELLENCE AND ADVANTAGE OF HAVING A TREASURE IN THE HEART.

IN approaching the close of my subject, I would offer, at this point, some remarks suited both to encourage those who possess the treasure which has been described, and to stimulate such as are destitute of it, to make its attainment their first and highest aim. And with a view to this, I shall further illustrate, in several particulars, the value and usefulness of such a treasure in the heart.

1. A spiritually endowed soul is of great worth. It is the rarest piece of all God's workmanship. It is that surpassing product, on which the almighty Builder has bestowed matchless care and skill, as well as infinite love and grace. When He formed the worlds, a single omnipotent word spoke them into being. But when He would restore His lost image in man, a far more costly exhibition was demanded. Every attribute was put in requisition. Wisdom must devise the way. Justice must guard the Divine authority. Mercy and Love must send the Son to become incarnate, and

by His obedience and death to make atonement for sin, and vindicate the law which we had broken. And then the Holy Spirit of power must descend to apply the sacrifice, and regenerate the soul. This moral transformation, thus wrought in the heart, is a greater work, and of more value, than the whole material universe. A renewed soul is the epitome of the creation, the clearest likeness of the Divinity on earth, the true portraiture of God in man, and a blessed treasury of spiritual perfections. The soul is the glory of man, and grace is the glory of the soul. Every man is so far excellent as he is religious. A Christian's greatest ornament and dignity consist in what he is with respect to God. Gracious souls are truly precious, and such as are precious in God's account are honorable, and of more worth than the richest princes and largest kingdoms. Well may they be the Lord's jewels, who have a treasure of jewels locked up in their breasts. These precious sons of Zion are comparable to fine gold, though men esteem them as earthen pitchers. It is true, that they exhibit little of outward splendor to attract the carnal eye. As it was with their Divine Redeemer and Exemplar, of whom His despisers said, "He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him;" so the saints may appear mean and sordid

to external view; but could you penetrate their hidden being, you would find them all glorious within. They are like the tabernacle built by Moses, whose outside was covered with rams' skins, goats' hair, badgers' skins, and such coarse materials; but whose inside was adorned with gold, silver, precious stones, and curious workmanship. In this two-fold aspect, the servants of God are compared in Scripture to the tents of Kedar, and to the curtains of Solomon. The word Kedar signifies blackness, and the posterity of Ishmael's second son, which bore this name, dwelt in tents made of hair cloth. Thus believers are now dwelling in tents, and through the afflictions, persecutions, and infirmities, incident to them in this weary pilgrimage, are black and unlovely to the sight. But could you open the tent door, and look into the secret cabinet of their hearts, you would discover a treasure of the rarest gems that ever mortal eyes beheld. You would see them to be "as comely as the curtains of Solomon"—as glorious and beautiful as the embroidered hangings that surrounded his regal couch. Take another familiar illustration. If you were to see an earthen pot full of gold; and if, while you looked only at the outside, and knew nothing of what was within, you were asked its value, your answer would probably be, a few pence. And yet that insignificant