we can serve God still; we can suffer and take inflictions patiently, and there is no condition where we can not be satisfied in the enjoyment of righteousness. This is the end, then, which we are to seek in all conditions, and by all means. That is the point; righteousness is the principal thing. It is not one special form; if it had been, other good things in this world would have been neglected. Suppose righteousness had been the doing of some one thing, then men would have neglected their business, their daily cares, their ordinary relationship, to rush and to do that one thing, That is the way it has been misconceived by some; it has been considered by some as one thing-a form, a pilgrimage, a round of prayers, a shutting ourselves up from the world.

Yes, thank God, you can hunger and thirst after righteousness. If you are driving a nail, planing a board, selling a piece of cloth, doing any kind of work, hunger and thirst after righteousness. In all that you are doing, hunger and thirst after righteousness. Oh, what a blessed thing is that! And remember there is no warrant that we shall have anything else than this in this world. You have no assurance of life, happiness, health, or reputation; but you may be sure you shall have goodness if you seek it. It is true in one sense, as one has well said, that whatever we would have, we can take if we pay for it-good or evil. There is a law of that kind: "Seek, and ye shall find." We can have it, but we must pay for it. You

can have pleasure, but you must pay for it in a wasted life, a ruined or impaired nature. You can have wealth, but you must pay for it, perhaps, in honorable, drudging service, or, as many have paid for it, in a blasted reputation. But you are not sure even in regard to these things. It is by no means certain when you have your wealth or reputation, that you will enjoy it. Something may come in to prevent it. But there is one thing certain-one thing which can not fail you, but can give you unending and inalienable joy. In Christ's words you hear what it is, and all men who have responded to those words in holy effort, corroborate what he has said "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."

LIFE IN CHRIST.

As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.-John vi. 57.

UR Saviour, in many instances, taught the truth

in such a way as not only to instruct the hearts of those who gathered around him, but to test their dispositions. Those among his hearers who were in spiritual sympathy with him, whose instincts and desires were truthful, would be incited to penetrate the mystery or the symbolism of his language, and where they did not distinctly see all its meaning, they would feel its general purport; while there were others gathered around him, who, even seeing, would not perceive -who, hearing, would not understand, because they grasped only the literal meaning of the teacher's words, and interpreted them by their pre-conceptions. Such appears to have been the case in the instance connected with the text. Christ had described himself as the bread that came down from heaven, and in the intensity of the illustration suggested by the idea, he had urged upon his hearers the vital necessity of partaking of his flesh and of his blood. Upon this, many of his

disciples exclaimed, "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?" and some of them, turning away, followed him no more. But others, though they may not have comprehended all his meaning, felt that what he said was profoundly true-was fitted to their deepest wants; and when Jesus asked them, "Will ye also go away?" they replied, through the lips of Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." Thus, then, those whose minds and hearts were not essentially disposed toward truth, stumbled at language which bade them eat the flesh and drink the blood of him who spoke to them; but to those who sought the substance of the truth involved in that symbolism, the Saviour himself furnished the key, for he told them not to take his words grossly and literally. "It is the spirit that quickeneth," said he; "the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life."

It seems, my friends, that this text, especially the latter clause of it-while I do not wish to say anything that looks like a play upon words-suggests two or three important points for consideration. "He that eateth me, even he shall live by me." In the first place, we live by Jesus Christ. I refer you to the statement that I have just made in interpreting what I am about to say. The material simile of eating Jesus, and living by him, unfolds a vital and spiritual meaning. I need not tell you how strangely this phraseology has been misconstrued. We know that one great