when so many are emigrating to distant colonies, where, it is admitted by all, that there is in many localities absolute destitution of the means of grace. How melancholy to see those who have made a distinctive profession of the Christian religion putting themselves, their families, and their interests, temporal and spiritual, into the hands of emigration agents, to be located where they may see meet, without regard to the claims of God or the feelings of humanity. Still more culpable are those who have the comforts of life at their disposal, and who yet voluntarily renounce the means of grace, that they may better their circumstances amidst the unclaimed wastes of a new country. There is not here even the semblance of a compromise between God and Mammon. The service of the former is renounced, while the whole heart is given to the interests of the latter.

There are others not less reckless of their public profession, with much slighter temptation. Are there not many servants who will exchange the dwelling of a Christian master or mistress for that of another who makes no profession of religion-where there shall be neither family worship, nor Sabbath sanctification, nor even attendance upon ordinances-for the sake of a few shillings of wages, or a few more privileges of a temporal kind? Are there not many who have come under the most solemn obligations, in relation to Christ's cause, and a testimony for his truth, who readily and voluntarily place themselves in circumstances where they are absolutely shut out from attending upon ordinances such as their consciences can approve, or such as are consistent with their vows to God? For what is this sacrifice made? Sometimes from no higher motive than the love of change, and, at the best, it is only the difference of wages, amounting to a paltry sum, that even the world would consider with contempt. Could there possibly be a higher contempt cast upon the truth of God, than to take up our abode among its enemies from any pecuniary consideration? Could it be possible to produce on the minds of the careless a deeper conviction, either that all profession is hypocrisy, or that there is no distinction between truth and error? Need we say that the practice is common, not only among servants, but among those who occupy a more independent position, and are consequently the deeper in guilt, by renouncing or dealing falsely with their public profession.

It is admitted on all hands, that the minister from whom they have received the seals of the Covenant, on making their public profession of Christ's truth and cause, is bound by his engagements to stand by his post at whatever sacrifice, personal or relative. Those who deal so lightly with their own profession would be quite ready to pronounce him an apostate, should he renounce his distinctive profession for gain, no matter what amount might be realized in another connection. And yet the persons who have vowed with him-who have put their hands to his call-who have pledged adherence to the same faith and profession, over the emblems of Christ's dying love, will renounce bis ministry, withdraw their means of support, and leave the fellowship of the Church for a mere matter of convenience, or even the future prospect of pecuniary advantage! This is not following the Lamb

whithersoever He leads, but simply following the impulse of a worldly spirit, though it should carry the professor, with all his vows and obligations, into the moral wilderness, to be tempted of the devil! How bitter the life of Lot in Sodom! How melancholy the moral gloom that envelopes the history of his family! To what does the Spirit of God trace these results? To the fact that he was guided in his choice by worldly considerations, in separating from Abraham : "And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plains of Jordan, that it was well watered every where." He made his choice in connection with the aspects of the soil, and he lost his family (with the exception of those who lived to disgrace him), amidst the conflagration of the doomed city of Sodom. Alas! how many of the descendents of distinguished professors have been lost to the Church-lost eternally— through the influence of such motives! There is no safety in any relation of life, but by setting the Lord continually before us, and making all arrangements in accordance with our responsibility to Jehovah.

Having noticed some of the duties which servants owe to God in the formation of that relation in which they stand to their masters, the way is cleared for considering those duties which devolve upon them in fulfilling their engagements. These, however, are too numerous to be overtaken in the present article; and seeing that the duties to God are distinct from, though the foundation of, those involved in the relation of master and servant, there can be no disadvantage in leaving them for future consideration.

THE DUTY OF FOLLOWING THE LAMB.

Rev. xiv. 4. "These are they who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth."

IT has been deeply felt by mankind in all ages, that they require a Leader, some great and illustrious conqueror to lead them forward to victory and triumph. Hence the readiness with which they have ever welcomed illustrious men, and flocked to their standard. Hence the enthusiasm with which they have followed the Alexanders, the Cæsars, the Buonapartes, and other conquerors of the world. They have never acquiesced in their present state of guilt, and ruin, and wickedness, as the destined and ultimate condition of men; and, consequently, they have ever felt, and painfully felt, their need of some great deliverer to rid them of the evils and calamities that oppress and overwhelm them. Accordingly, they have ever been disposed to listen with eagerness and attention to those who have promised them deliverance from the manifold evils by which they have been crushed and dispirited, and have followed implicitly imposters and deceivers who could grant them no deliverance. This universal craving of the human race for some glorious and triumphant leader can only be met and satisfied to the utmost extent of all our desires in the illustrious Personage who is presented in the visions of God to our believing, admiring, and grateful contemplation, as the Lamb upon Mount Sion,

and with him an hundred, and forty, and four thousand followers, who have his Father's name written on their foreheads. This glorious Deliverer is a Leader of Divine gift and appointment. For thus saith the Lord by the prophet Isaiah, "Behold I have given him for a witness to the people; a leader and commander to the people." To the same purpose it is declared by Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, "It became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through suffering."

The text and context contain a number of the distinguishing characteristics of the followers of the Lamb. They are distinguished from the rest of the world; they are a people dwelling alone, and not reckoned among the nations; they stand with the Lamb on Mount Sion; they have his Father's name written on their foreheads; they compose a worshipping assembly; they worship God in a spiritual and acceptable manner; they are a redeemed company, being delivered from the miserable and degrading bondage of the Man of Sin; they are the first fruits unto God, being acceptable and well pleasing unto him; they are free from all guile and hypocrisy; and they are blameless and without fault before God. They are in all these, and in many other respects, distinguished from the votaries of Antichrist, and stand in striking contrast to his followers, as their character is delineated in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation.

I. We shall mention some things included or implied in following the Lamb. To follow the Lamb, implies love to his person. Love to the person of the blessed Saviour is essential to all his genuine followers. They love him on account of his personal excellencies, human and divine. They love him on account of his personal excellencies as the Son of God, as possessed of all perfection in the highest possible degree, as a partaker of every attribute and excellency of the divine nature in the same absolute, underived, and unlimited sense in which it belongs to the Father. They love him as the brightness of the Father's glory, the express image of the Father's person. They love him as possessed of all the graces and loveliness of perfect manhood, and say of him in this character, "Thou art fairer than the sons of men." They love him on account of that ineffable, unsearchable, and everlasting love with which he loves them. Accordingly, they all declare with John, "We love him because he first loved us.' They love him on account of the manner in which he has evinced his love towards them, by undertaking their cause in the counsels of peace from all eternity;-by assuming their nature in the fulness of time into everlasting union with his Divine Person ;by taking their place in law, and suffering in their stead ;-by pouring out his soul in death under the load of all their guilt;-by appearing before God in their behalf, and pouring out his Spirit upon them ;by the gracious visits which he pays them, and the blessings which he bestows upon them. Those who follow the Lamb, love his person. Accordingly, Peter declares, in reference to the experience of all the followers of the blessed Saviour, "Whom having not seen, ye love; in

whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory."

To follow the Lamb, implies a saving belief of his truth. Truth is inestimably precious. It is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. It lasts like the incorruptible gold; it germinates like the prolific seed; it fertilizes like the early dew; it refreshes like the living stream; it shines like the morning light, ever tending onwards to perfect day; it is more to be desired than gold, than much fine gold; it is more precious than the gold of Ophir, than the precious Onyx or the Sapphire; it is more precious than rubies, and all the things that thou canst desire are not to be compared unto it. Hence there is a command given respecting it in the Book of God, that is not given respecting liberty, nor property, nor even life itself: "Buy the truth, and sell it not." Buy the truth at any price, sell it at no price. It is the peral of great price, which, when a man hath found, he will part with all he has to keep possession of it. Such is the preciousness of truth. And to bear witness to the truth, was one great end of the incarnation of the Son of God. Hence he declared before Pilate, "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." The truth to which the blessed Saviour bore witness, has respect to his own person, offices, and work; to God's purpose and grace in Christ Jesus before the world began; to himself as the refuge and the rest, and the consolation of afflicted, and weary, and heavy-laden men; to his relation to his people as the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, who should lay down his life for the sheep; to his mission, as having come to seek and save the lost, and to give his life a ransom for many; to his cause, and kingdom, and glorious appearing at the end of the world. It embraces, in short, all things whatsoever he hath commanded us. Accordingly, he declares, "Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." The Spirit of truth in the Word, and the Spirit of truth in the heart of the people of God, is one and the same Spirit; and every one that is of the truth, hears the voice of Christ, embraces his truth, and lays it up in his heart. The followers of the Lamb are all baptized with the Spirit of truth, and, consequently, they have received the truth in the love of it, that they might be saved.

To follow the Lamb, implies that we have imbibed his Spirit. The beloved Saviour had a copious effusion of the Holy Spirit of God, in his manifold gifts and graces bestowed upon him. "The Spirit of the Lord rested upon him; the Spirit of wisdom and understanding; the Spirit of counsel and might; the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." Accordingly, it is declared, "God gave not the Spirit by measure unto him." He was animated with a Spirit of wisdom and revelation, light and knowledge, peace and comfort. He was in spired with a Spirit of trust and confidence in his Father; with a Spirit of love to his Father and his Father's law; with a Spirit of benevolence and love to mankind; with a Spirit of humanity and lowliness; with a Spirit of meekness and gentleness; and with a Spirit of patience and forbearance. Those who follow the Lamb have imbibed his Spirit.

They seek that wisdom which cometh down from above, "which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated; full of mercy and good fruits; without partiality, and without hypocrisy." They seek showers of blessings from the throne, that their wilderness may become like Eden, their desert like the garden of the Lord; that they may be more fortified and strengthened in grace than before; that they may abound in those fruits of righteousness which are to the Divine glory. They seek that they may be inspired with the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, that their darkness may be illuminated, and that they may behold wondrous things out of God's law. They cherish that heavenly grace of Christian charity, the praises of which are so highly celebrated by Paul, and which never faileth. It is an essential qualification of the followers of the Lamb, that they imbibe his Spirit: "For if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Accordingly, the Apostle Paul gives the following injunction,-"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."

To follow the Lamb, is to imitate his holy example. The blessed Saviour is a perfect pattern of holy obedience. He hath set us an example that we should follow his steps. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separated from sinners. He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. "In his blessed life I see the path, and in his death the price, and in his high assent the proof supreme of immortality." In point of example, as in all other respects, the blessed Saviour has the pre-eminence. Of which of the saints of God can it be said, he could not fail? Concerning not one of them; no, not concerning the amiable and lovely Joseph, nor the pure and holy Daniel,-than whom I know no more beautiful characters in the whole Word of God.. But of the Saviour it is declared, "He shall not fail nor be discouraged." Accordingly, when the prince of this world came, he found nothing in him;-no taint, nor stain, nor defilement of sin, on which to fix his envenomed darts;-on the contrary, our blessed Lord ever did those things which pleased his Father. It was his meat and drink to do his Father's pleasure. It is the glorious compendium of his whole public life, that "he went about continually doing good." Like his glorious emblem, the sun in the heavens, he dispensed blessings with a liberal hand to the sons of men. In the Saviour's bright example, we are furnished with a perfect model for our imitation. To follow the Lamb, therefore, is to imitate his pure, and holy, and perfect example. The imitation of Christ is included in the name Christian; it is included in the very idea of discipleship; it is indispensable on the part of all his genuine followers. They imitate him in striving to be blameless and harmless as the Son of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; in letting their light so shine, that others, seeing their good works, may glorify their Father in heaven; in aiming at the promotion of the Divine glory; and in manifesting benovelence and charity to all mankind. They imitate him in his love to the house of God; in his delight in prayer to his Father; in his meekness and gentleness towards enemies and friends; in forgiving their enemies, and doing good to them that hate them; and in attending to the great business of religion.