life, and who yet wish to retain the defiling principles of their own evils—they do not clear the ground of their heart from the evils which defile it. They hear the words of the Lord; they believe them to be words of truth; they even receive the Lord Himself as the Supreme Truth, and thus they have faith or belief in the doctrines He makes known. But here they think their duty ends: as for digging deep into the earth of their affections, and removing their evils, that the sure foundation may be laid, they seem never to have intended it. They hear, but they do not. Their hopes are laid upon the mere sandy foundation of knowledge; they have no endurance; they cannot face trial and temptation; they give way before the slightest apparent difficulty, until at length they fall altogether. It is easy for a man to gain a knowledge of the truth, to be able to converse about doctrine, to crowd his memory with the literal facts recorded in the Word of God: but all this without a life of practical holiness will avail nothing. The Word of the Lord is, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." Of the non-practical, our Lord thus speaks: "Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name have cast out devils, and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity."
Very different, however, is the end of those who hear the "Word of God, and do it," following the Lord in His own appointed way. To erect the durable house, they act in obedience to the Lord, and surrender all that they have, their very life. But what is this life which the faithful lay down to secure life
