Whenever a Christian man yields to a mournful, desponding spirit, under his trials; when he does not seek grace from God to battle manfully and cheerfully with trouble; when he does not ask his heavenly Father to give him strength and consolation whereby he may be enabled to rejoice in the Lord at _all_ times, he does dishonor to the high, and mighty, and noble principles of Christianity, which are fitted to bear a man up, and make him happy even in times of the deepest affliction. It is the boast of the gospel that it lifts the heart above trouble; it is one of the glories of our religion that it makes us say, "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat, _yet will I rejoice in the Lord_, I will joy in the God of my salvation." _Religion a Present Concern._ Religion must be a thing of the present, because the _present has such intimate connections with the future_. We are told in Scripture that this life is a seed-time, and the future is the harvest, "he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting." As the seed generates the plant, even so doth this present life generate the eternal future. Heaven and hell are, after all, but the developments of our present character, for is it not written, "he that is holy, let him be holy still; he that is unjust, let him be unjust still?" Do we not know that in the heart of every sin condemnation slumbers? Is it not a fearful truth that the germ of everlasting torment sleeps in every vile wish, every unholy thought, every unclean act, so that hell is but a great breaking out of slumbering lava, which had been so quiet, that while the mountain was covered with fair verdure, even to its summit, death comes and bids that lava rise; and down the steeps of manhood's eternal existence, the fiery lava of eternal misery doth pour itself? Yet it was there before, for sin is hell, and rebellion against God is the prelude of misery. So is it with heaven; I know that heaven is a reward, not of debt but of grace; but still the Christian has that within him which forestalls for him a heaven. What did Christ say? "I _give_ unto my sheep eternal life." He did not say, "_I will give_," but "_I do give_." As soon as they believe in Me, I give them eternal life. "He that believeth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation." The Christian hath within him the seed-beds of a paradise; in due time the light which is sown for the righteous, and the gladness which is sown for the upright in heart, shall spring up, and they shall reap the harvest. Is it not plain, then, that religion is a thing which we must have here? Is it not prominently revealed that religion is important for the present? For if this life be the seed-time of the future, how can I expect to reap in another world