hand; and that the day was coming when He would sit on
the throne of David, yea, on the mediatorial throne itself, King of
kings, and Lord of lords, the keys of Death and Hades, of the realms of
invisible existence and spiritual power, hanging at his girdle.

To that creed the Baptist added a testimony, which has been the means
of light and blessing to myriads. Being dead, he yet has spoken
through the ages, assuring us that to believe on Jesus is to have, as a
present fact, eternal life, the life which fills the Being of God and
defies time and change. Faith is the act by which we open our heart to
receive the gift of God; as earth bares her breast to sun and rain, and
as the good wife flings wide her doors and windows to let in the spring
sunshine and the summer air. Ah, reader, I would that thou hadst this
faith! The open heart towards Christ! The yielded will! Thou needst
only will to have Him, and He has already entered, though thou canst
not detect his footfall, or the chime of the bells around his garment's
hem. And to shut thy heart against Him not only excludes the life
which might be thine, but incurs the wrath of God.

_There are two concluding thoughts_. First: The only hope of a
decreasing self is an increasing Christ. There is too much of the
self-life in us all, chafing against God's will, refusing God's gifts,
instigating the very services we render to God, simulating humility and
meekness for the praise of men. But how can we be rid of this accursed
self-consciousness and pride? Ah! we must turn our back on our shadow,
and our face towards Christ. We must look at all things from his
standpoint, trying to realize always how they affect Him, and then
entering into his emotions. It has been said that "the woman who loves
thinks with the brain of the man she loves", and surely if we love
Christ with a constraining passion, we shall think his thoughts and
feel his joys, and no longer live unto ourselves, but unto Him.

"Love took up the Harp of Life
And smote on all its chords with might;
Smote the chord of self, that trembling,
Passed in music out of sight."

Second: we must view our relationship to Christ as the betrothal and
marriage of our soul to our Maker and Redeemer, who is also our
Husband. "Wherefore, my brethren," says the apostle, "ye also were
made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be
married to another, even to Him who was raised from th