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master and servant. The master has the right to the time and labor of the servant; and, while the servant is his, and accountable to him, he is entitled to that which is "just and equal." And what is that? A sufficiency of comfortable and wholesome "food and raiment;" reasonable labor; all due attention when sick; support and protection when old and infirm; all needful religious instruction in youth and mature age, and a decent burial when dead. Masters give unto your servants these "just and equal things," and ye need not be afraid to meet them in judgment.

In conclusion, I will make a few reflections on the great utility of practicing the duties, privileges and responsibilities of our holy religion.

1. It is practice which proves the truth of our profession to others. "By their fruits ye shall know them." We know that the doctor is what he professes to be when, by his skill and remedies, he cures his patient; so of the lawyer, mechanic, farmer; and so of the christian; we know him to be a good man who bears "the fruit of the Spirit;" "fruit unto holiness." The world will credit a profession upon such evidence as this.

2. It is practice whieh makes perfect. The practical improvement of religion will maintain all that was at first received, and will be the occasion of receiving more; for it is a rule in the economy of grace that, "whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance," because he shows both capacity and willingness to improve. Acting upon this rule he will soon become "perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

3. It is practice that prevents backsliding;—" for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." "Never fall" from your own steadfastness; "never fall" from the enjoyment of religion; "never fall" into sin, pride, and the snare of the devil; "never fall" into hell. On the contrary, he that cometh to Christ, heareth his sayings, and doeth them, like a wise man building his house upon a rock, shall stand firm and unshaken amid howling winds, descending rains and beating floods, when storms of wrath shake earth and sky; and, soaring above all, "an entrance shall be ministered unto him abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Amen.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH.

BY REV. L. D. HUSTON, D. D.,

OF THE KENTUCKY CONFERENCE.

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"By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God... By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises offered up his only-begotton son, of whom it was said: That in Isaac shall thy seed be called; accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure."-Heb. xi, 8, 9, 10; . . 17, 18, 19.

Abram, the son of Terah, was born about the year of the world 2008, or 350 years after the flood. This is supposed to have been but two years after the death of Noah, the faithful preacher of righteousness, whom Terah must have known, and yet, such is man's proneness to forget God, that already the world was filled with idolatry. Even Ur, the land in which the human family had so recently had its seccnd origin, was an idolatrous country-even Terah, it would seem, an idolator. This astonishing fact explains the frequent recurrence in the word of God of the first commandment, and justifies the promptness and severity of the punishment inflicted upon idolators. It shows, also, why it pleased God thus early to select a suitable man to be the special depository of Divine truth, and a reliable conservator of the true religion.

Abram was invested with this high prerogative for the reason, above all others, that he was "the friend of God." No other character is likely to be a public benefactor, "for foe to God was ne'er true friend to man." And of all those who, at that time, were friends of God, he was perhaps the most likely man to subserve the two great purposes of heaven-the illustration and the preservation of the true religion. Through all his known life he both taught and practiced it. Besides, God knew him, that he would "command his children and his household after him, that they should keep the way of the Lord, to do

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