in
on the silken age into which we are fallen! and if they perceived in
us that love which led them to endure all things for the elect's
sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ
Jesus with eternal glory. Example is a far more fruitful source of
self-denial than the influence exerted on the mind by precept. If we
call on those, who know nothing of the savour of that Name which is
as ointment poured forth, to give up all for Christ, and this you
literally do to every Hindoo and Mahomedan; let us, who thus call,
and who profess to know much of the power of His Name, do so
likewise; that they may catch a kindred spirit from a living
exhibition. Let us evidence, in very deed, that we love not the
world, neither the things of the world, but that the love of the
Father is in us. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the
Father, but of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof; but he, that doeth the will of God, abideth for ever" (1
John 2. 15).

III. I shall now conclude with a few arguments to prove, that if the
extension of the spirit of Christ's Kingdom be the proper object of
the Church's pursuit--which is, on earth, essentially a spirit of
self-denial for others' good--the entire surrender contended for, is
as consonant with reason as it is with revelation; and consequently
the great end of our existence should be the extension of this
spirit; and the most important enquiry, in which we can be engaged,
is,--how this may be most effectually accomplished.

Let us, therefore, begin with the consideration of our children, as
it regards their apprehension of this spirit of our Lord's kingdom.
There is no one calling himself a Christian, who does not profess to
desire, and there is no one really a Christian, who does not in
earnest desire for his children, both the apprehension and attainment
of this blessing. The lips of all, and the hearts of the saints
continually declare it as their wish that their children may receive
the word of truth, "not as the word of man, but as it is indeed the
word of God";--that they may esteem and receive it as "a lamp unto
their feet and a light unto their paths";--that they may prize it as
the greatest and best gift of God, next to Him of whom it bears
testimony and to whom it owes its preciousness. How then is a
Christian to direct most powerfully and practically, the opening