man's bands were loosed." Was not this an intimation not to be mistaken or misunderstood, that none dare shut where the Lord has opened? And truly, as the shutting of the prison-doors on God's servants was vain, so vain shall every attempt of man be to shut the door of liberty, or the door of privilege, or the door of utterance afforded by heaven.

But to leave the days of the Apostles' preaching, and come down through succeeding ages of the Church's history, we see how, on all occasions, the opposition of the enemies of the cross has been in vain, when the Lord himself opened a passage, by which he or his servants might ride forth prosperously, "because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness." We have not, indeed, seen the arm of the Lord revealed, for the furtherance of his own work, as when he led the Apostles forth by his own way; we have not, in these latter days, witnessed such signal manifestations of his presence and power, as were exhibited in the earlier times of the Church's history; but as little have we seen the gates of hell prevailing to the utter overthrow of Zion's walls. We have seen persecution and oppression apparently making head against Christianity, and for a time checking the growth of the Gospel tree. But has not the bruised reed ever been seen to rise with renewed strength, and the door that seemed shut, to open wider than before?

But not to dwell longer on what the avowed enemies of the cross have attempted to do to hinder its triumphs, we would next advert to what has been done, and is still doing, by the professed friends of Christianity.

Time was when there were those, bearing the Christian name, who thought they were doing God service, by withholding the Bible from perishing sinners, and who sedulously sought to conceal the treasure within the sanctuary of their cloisters. But did the Lord of the vineyard prepare a field for the reception of the seed? Did he stir up a growing curiosity to see the forbidden book? Did this curiosity grow under the fostering care of the Spirit into a thirst for saving knowledge? Then, not even the anathemas of the Church, nor the interdicts issued from its conclaves, could stop the influx of the light.

Can we forget how the Church of Rome denounced the doctrines of the Reformation, and warned its votaries to avoid the way of salvation which the heretics pointed out, as they would the way to eternal death? And yet the doctrines of the Reformation flourished, and the flood of light flowed on, scattering the darkness before it, and gladdening thousands with the truth, now unmingled with the dogmas of erring men. And when multitudes flocked to the better way thus revealed, did not the persecuting church say, Nay? Still they could not bar the gates of men's hearts against what men saw with their own eyes to be indeed the truth as it is in Jesus.

Again, has not the Christian brotherhood been divided into opposing factions, each claiming the exclusive privilege of guiding men to heaven-each securing for those who could pronounce its Shibboleth spiritual advantages that were denied to all others each denouncing the other, as bearing some mark that excluded

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from the Church Universal-each solemnly declaring, that the door of usefulness, nay, even the door of hope, was shut against all who did not subscribe its creed? Yet, have such narrow-minded bigotry and sectarianism ever succeeded in barricading the narrow way of life against a single believer, who followed the guidance of the simple truth? No. The little flock that follows Christ in faith and well-doing, shall not lose their reward, if, in spite of the opinions and judgments of fallible men, they hold fast the form of sound words once delivered to the saints. No Christian Church that bears a steadfast unyielding testimony to the faithful sayings of the Gospel shall be denied admittance into the field of Christian enterprize, if it seek to devote itself, with Christian simplicity and a sanctified zeal, to the hallowed work of winning souls to Christ; nor shall it want the blessing of its living Head on its labours of love. Let those who name the name of Christ only keep his word, and in no respect deny his name, and he will acknowledge them, his banner over them shall be love, and all men shall know that he has loved them. And, oh! that men would bear in mind, that the door is shut against professing Christians, not when men of like passions with themselves pass their rash judgments, and exclude from the ranks of the faithful, but only when the word of Christ is dishonoured, disbelieved, and disobeyed, and when his holy name is blasphemed; then would many a timid and unstable soul, now tossed to and fro by the great swelling words of those self-constituted judges, cease to be beguiled by their sophistries, and boldly take its stand,

not on the peculiar tenets of this or that sect; but on simple Bible truth. But next,

(3.) The door may be shut, though it cannot be so by man. Christ may see it meet to shut the door of his own opening, in order that the wise purposes of his will, and the plans of his government may be carried out. He may remove the candlestick from the midst of a church, to punish that church for its unfruitfulness. He may turn light into darkness, if men are found to love the darkness rather than the light. He may close every avenue by which the truth might have entered in, in order that he may chastise hard-hearted sinners who would have none of wisdom's counsels. He may shut the door against individuals, and against churches, for reasons conducive to his glory, though unknown to But with such secret purposes it is not our province to intermeddle; rather let us turn to the consideration of those sins by which we may provoke Chris to shut the door, that we, through God's grace, may watch and pray against them, lest we bring the curse of exclusion upon ourselves.

man.

The sins that we more particularly notice as provoking Christ to shut the door against us, are the denial of his name, and the neglect of our privileges. We see that the reason why no man could shut the door set before the Philadelphian Church, was because they had a little strength, and had kept Christ's word, and had not denied his name. Suppose, on the other hand, that instead of this commendation, He who knew their works had found occasion to reprove them for renouncing their allegiance to Him, and disregarding

his authority, they could not, in this case, have been owned as good and faithful-they could not have been qualified for serving Him, or for being fellow-workers with God; and while the blessing of God could not have rested on their works here, his approbation could not have welcomed them into heaven, when their time of probation was over. Had they denied Christ's name, every door that led to any field of enterprize where Christ was recognized, must have been shut, and into the kingdom of heaven no admittance could have been granted them. And so it ever must be. To every professing disciple of Christ that keeps not the word of Christ, and to every Church that is not built up a spiritual house, founded on faith, and cemented by Christian principle, Christ will say, "I know you not." By Christ, the door, they cannot enter, against them the door of separation must be shut.

But again, is there a door set before us, and do we not seek to avail ourselves of it? Do we care not to seek, with all our hearts, the liberties and privileges to which that door would lead? Do we heed not the opportunities it presents? Do we sit with folded hands, and leave the field to be overrun with the weeds of worldliness, where, by due care and culture on our part, and by God's blessing, there might have been fruit unto holiness? Need we wonder if, in these circumstances, the privilege of working Christ's work in that field be eventually taken from us? Need we wonder that, if we are thus careless of the light, the candlestick should be removed, and we be found at last to have neither part nor lot in the matter of sal