(Isa. lxv. 3.) The children of Israel were said to have had their lives "made bitter with hard bondage in mortar and brick." (Exod. i. 14.)
Let us ponder well on these things, and be careful never to substitute brick for STONE—or falsehood for TRUTH.
June Eleventh.
THE CROWN OF LIFE.
"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."—Rev. ii. 10.
WHATEVER may be the crosses and changes of human life here below, there is but one steady course for the Christian to pursue, which is, to love the Lord above all things, and his neighbour as himself. He must delight in that which leads to virtue, to holiness, and heaven. In this life there is a peace that passeth all understanding, and a hope that disperseth every cloud. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."
The crown which is here called life, is put as an emblem of the victory given to those who are conquerors. The Christian life is a real warfare, and those who follow the Lord in the regeneration, are those, who, in the Lord's strength, conquer in temptations. The Christian has to struggle with the principles of evil in his own heart, and with the alluring falsities of the world, which would draw him down from his high, and destroy his best and brightest hopes. Against all the evil propensities of affection and thought, the Christian has to fight his way;
