s unto the Lord; and
we honour eminent talents as deserving admiration and reward, and the
more readily act we thus, because these are little things to pay. The
time is short, year follows year, and the world is passing away. It is
of small consequence to those who are beloved of God, and walk in the
Spirit of truth, whether they pay or receive honour, which is but
transitory and profitless. To the true Christian the world assumes
another and more interesting appearance; it is no longer a stage for
the great and noble, for the ambitious to fret in, and the wealthy to
revel in; but it is a scene of probation. Every soul is a candidate
for immortality. And the more we realize this view of things, the more
will the accidental distinctions of nature or fortune die away from our
view, and we shall be led habitually to pray, that upon every Christian
may descend, in rich abundance, not merely worldly goods, but that
heavenly grace which alone can turn this world to good account for us,
and make it the path of peace and of life everlasting.

[1] Prov. xxx. 8.

[2] Eccles. i. 18.

[3] 1 Tim. i. 19.

[4] 2 Chron. xxxii. 31.

[5] 1 Sam. xvii. 37.

[6] 1 Kings xi. 1, 4, 5.

[7] Ps. xciv. 12.

[8] 2 Cor. xii. 7.

[9] Mark x. 23.

[10] James ii. 5.

[11] Matt. xx. 27, xxiii. 8.

[12] 1 Cor. xii. 31.

[13] 1 Tim. iv. 4.

[14] 1 Matt. xxiii. 19.

SERMON VI.

The Season of Epiphany.

"_This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and
manifested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him._"--John
ii. 11.

The Epiphany is a season especially set apart for adoring the glory of
Christ. The word may be taken to mean the manifestation of His glory,
and leads us to the contemplation of Him as a King upon His throne in
the midst of His court, with His servants around Him, and His guards in
attendance. At Christmas we commemorate His grace; and in Lent His
temptation; and on Good Friday His sufferings and death; and on Easter
Day His victory; and on Holy Thursday His return to the Father; and in
Advent we anticipate His second coming. And in all of these seasons He
does something, or suffers something: but in the Epiphany and the weeks
after it, we celebrate Him, not as on His field of battle, or in His
solitary retreat, but as an august and glorious King; we view Him as
the Object of our worship. Then only, during His whole earthly
history, did He fulfil the type of Solomon,