pled than the latter, is more difficult than either. And I think, besides, that it is the children of the kingdom who are toiling on this difficult and dangerous road, mistaking it for the way that is appointed them. But sure I am it is not there we shall find traces of the Saviour's footsteps.

Jesus tells us of two ways only; and throughout the Scriptures there is no mention made of any other. He says that one is broad, full; because the gate is wide, easily entered; and because the way is wide, not easily departed from without design. Some have thence concluded that this path is smooth, pleasant, unobstructed. Jesus does not say so; he speaks only of the largeness of the entrance, the plenitude of space, the multitude that walk there, and the destruction in which it terminates. Other Scriptures have described it. They speak of it as a "crooked way,” a “dark way,” a "miry way." David calls it a "dark and slippery way." Solomon says, that "thorns and snares are in it;" and Isaiah, that "they who go therein shall not know peace." Add to this the testimony of those who have tried

it, and we need be in no mistake about it. For what is the history of every man but a record of the toils, the dangers, the difficulties, the sufferings he has found upon this crowded path? Who walks in peace upon it? who treads it fearlessly and stumbles not? who finds a shelter in it from the wind and storm? who gathers on its banks the medicinal herb and ever-blooming flower? No: let not the inexperienced deceive themselves about this road; it is easily found and easily kept, but an easy I walk it is not. It is full of difficulties, and there is no light to walk by: it is full of enemies, and there is no balm for the wounded; the blight of sorrow is there, but no place of shelter from its keenness. It is a dark way, for the light of truth is not upon it; it is a cold way, for the warmth of heaven is not in it; it is a crooked way, where no man sees before him, nor knows whither the next turn may bring him; it is a perilous way, where no man lies down in safety, nor knows that he shall rise in peace. Such is the broad road that leadeth to destruction.

Jesus tells us of but one other; and because

it is narrow, men have concluded it is diffi• cult. But again I observe that Jesus does not say so. I could fancy I see it in the white path that skirts that mountainous cliff; the precipice on the one side, on the other the broad greensward, seeming smooth at a distance, but really impracticable. Mile beyond mile, it lies distinct before us; broken by the undulations of the cliff, but reuniting as we advance upon it. It is easily departed from, and lies very near to danger: he would be at great risk who should walk there in the dark, with blinded eyes or an inebriated brain; but if he be sober, be vigilant, the solid rock must give way beneath his feet, before he can be endangered. How speak the Scriptures of this heavenward path? One who had tried it, speaks thus of it: "Then shalt thou walk in the way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble; when thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid, yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet." Another says, "The way of the righteous is made plain." The Lord by Jeremiah saith, "Walk therein, and ye shall find rest to your souls;"--"Walk

ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you." Isaiah says, the way of holiness is plain, a fool shall not err therein; and Solomon, that it is a way of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace. St. Luke alludes to it as the way of peace, lighted by the dayspring from on high, and applies to it the prophetic words, "The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth." These are not definitions of a path so difficult to distinguish, that the most willing. cannot tell whether they are on it or beside it; they do not signify something so obscure, that he who is upon it cannot see his way, and must go forward at a venture; so very intricate, that the most watchful is at a risk to lose himself. There must be some mistake in this; and if I feel that I cannot appeal with as much confidence as before to those that have tried it, the thought again occurs, that we must have lighted on some other path, or made crooked for ourselves what God has said is straight.

The way by which some Christians try to reach their end is a difficult one indeed; but

it is none of God's appointing. There is no waymark of his upon it, but what bids them leave it. The erratic traveller, less mindful of the place he makes for, than of the objects by the way, choosing to forsake the beaten track, try every defile, and plunge into every thicket, meets a thousand dangers that were not in his path; sometimes swamped, some times benighted, always impeded, and not really advancing, till he regains the road. If Christians choose to travel forward thus, it is no wonder that their way is difficult, but it is not religion makes it so. Such is not the path the Saviour's previous footsteps have trodden into smoothness, and lighted with the lamp of his own Spirit. His is a way of uprightness, straight, direct, uniform. Theirs is the way of compromise, of equivocation, of spiritual dishonesty. It is neither the broad road of the world, nor the narrow road of the gospel; and since there is no other, it is no road at all, but a trackless and inextricable wilderness. They who stray into it never know where they are; they ask directions of everybody, and see not which way to turn: all is hazard