ss which believers long for, and which the
Church is to spread through the land, is not a necessary adjunct of any
or all of these. It is not the acting of a part in a drama, but the
forth-putting of a character in life, the exhibition in harmonious action
of the humble love and filial fear with which men "work out their
salvation." "A holy priesthood." It is remarkable of this spiritual
priesthood that it descends in no particular succession, nor limits its
privileges to any exclusive genealogy. The holiness which is at once its
distinctiveness and its hallowing comprehends and can sanctify all
relations of life. Let the minister have it, and the love of Christ, his
supremest affection, will prompt his loathing of sin and his pity for
sinners; will fire his zeal and make his words burn, and will often urge
him to cast himself upon the mercy-seat that his labours may not be in
vain. Let the merchant, or the manufacturer, or the man of business have
it, and it need neither bate his diligence nor hold him back from riches;
but it will smite down his avarice and restrain his greed of gold; it
will make him abhor the fraud that is gainful, and eschew the speculation
that is hazardous, and shrink from the falsehood that is customary, and
check the competition that is selfish; and it will utterly destroy the
deceptive hand-bill, and the cooked accounts, and the fictitious capital,
as well the enormous dishonesties as the little lies of trade. Let this
holiness actuate the parent, and in his strong and gentle rule he will
mould the hearts of his children heavenward, and train them in the
admonition of the Lord, until, a commanded household, comely in their
filial love, they shall reverence their Father who is in heaven. Let the
child be impressed with holiness, and he will have higher motives to
obedience than he can gather from the constraint of duty or from the
promptings of affection. Let the master be holy, and while he upholds
authority he will dispense blessing. Let the servant be holy, and
service will be rendered with cheerfulness, "not with eye-service as
men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God." Let the man be
holy, and vigorous health and lofty intellect and swaying eloquence and
quenchless zeal will all be offered to God. Let the woman be holy, and
patient prayer will linger round the cross, and ardent hope will haunt
the envied sepulchre, and pitying tenderness will wail on the way to
Calva