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act on this principle, in express imitation of the Saviour's example. When the cup of bereavement or affliction is put into our hands, we try to say, like him, "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? Not my will, but thine be done." Thus we really attempt to turn what we suffer much from, into an occasion of serving God well, and for submitting to him meekly. We regard this as true godliness, and try to make it holy submission.

Now, why not view every duty of life in the same light, and both go to it, and through it, as service required by God, and acceptable to God? Perhaps you find it difficult to conceive how some of your domestic duties could be invested with any thing like a spiritual or holy character: you may almost be inclined to smile at first, at the idea of giving them a religious aspect; and as to throwing the beauty of holiness around all the details of life, it may seem to you a profanation of divine things even to think of such a mixture. Be not frightened

or prejudiced, however, by words or fancies. God himself does many things similar to those you have to do if you clothe your children, He clothes the earth with grass and flowers: if you feed your children, He feeds the young ravens when they cry: if you watch night and day, occasionally, over the couch of a sick child, afraid to stir from its side, or take your eye off it for a moment, He never slumbers nor sleeps in watching over his suffering children: God even "sits, as a refiner," by the furnace of his backsliding children. If you try to manage well, and to make the best of whatever happens, for the sake of those who love you and look up to you, He also makes "all things work together for good to them that love him." Thus God counts nothing beneath him, nor derogatory to his character, which is really required by any of his creatures, or needful in any part of his creation. He doeth all things, little and great, ordinary and extraordinary, in the same god-like manner; acting always in character, whether he sustain a sparrow or

create a world. He doeth all things in heaven and earth, indeed, without quitting his throne, or being disquieted by the multiplicity and weight of his engagements; but still, God occupies himself with our mean affairs, as willingly and fully as with the affairs of angels or the interests of the universe. Nothing in his glorious holiness holds him back from doing ordinary things well, because they are but ordinary things: he acts like himself, whether displaying the tenderness of a Parent or the majesty of a Judge, and carries out his great principles into all his operations.

If, then, He be not less holy, nor less beautiful in holiness, whilst attending to the minutest claims of his universal family, why may not "holiness unto the Lord be written" upon all the details of your family duty?

I am not pleading for what is called "mixing up religion with every thing," if by that is meant talking about religion whilst transacting the business of life, or giving a religious turn to every conversation. This is neither neces

sary nor wise, as it is usually conducted by those who try it most: indeed, they are thus often guilty of "casting pearls before swine," and more likely to create prejudices against religion than to commend it. Even their own piety is in danger of being suspected of sinister design or of sanctimonious pretence, by this forced intermixture of sacred and common things. So far, therefore, as speaking perpetually about religion, or about every thing in religious phrases, is concerned, I have no sympathy with the habit, and see none of the beauty of holiness in it. I have, however, quite as little respect for both the vulgar and the sentimental proverb-" Business in its place, and religion in its own place." That really means, in the lips of those who use it most,

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'they are distinct things, therefore keep them separate;" a maxim equally treasonable and untrue! They are, indeed, made distinct things; but who made them so? Not God: he joins with the injunction, "not slothful in business," the commandment "Be fervent in spirit, serv

ing the Lord." He says, "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." It sounds ill, and looks ill, therefore, when men, professing to be Christians, say that they give themselves to business and religion in turn, and never try both at once. Such men do not understand the spirit of true religion, whatever adepts they may be in business.

I say this, however, far more in pity than in blame; for, as many godly women have grown up in the habit of going through their domestic duties, without ever imagining that there is any godliness in performing them well, so, many men, who have the root of the matter in them, have grown up in the habit of regarding their public duties in trade as no part of their religion. They, too, count nothing piety but what is done in the closet of devotion, and in the house of God, except what they may occasionally do in visiting the afflicted, or in relieving the poor; and thus both sexes confirm each other in the pernicious opinion, that ordinary duty is no proof of vital godliness.

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