hateth his brother is a murderer; Whoso lusteth is an adulterer; Whoso coveteth is a thief. Yet who is blameless in this respect? Who is there that does not say to dreams of revenge, visions of desires, nightmares of unbelief-" Lodge here this night and on the morrow go." And they leave us perhaps; "but when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out"—he would want it his had he been there but an hour.-" And when he cometh he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished; then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first." Ah, poor soul!" What men are these with thee?"

And surely on this morning, which is not only the dawn of a new day, but the nativity of a New Year, God comes to us afresh with inquisition keener and more resistless than ever for it were evil indeed, if this season of change did not find us with change in our minds-change of purpose, if need be, change of motion to some extent, change of associa

tion almost certainly. Let me be truer, purer, nearer to Thee, further from the world than heretofore. Let me sever myself

from all that hinders; if my right eye offend me give me grace to pluck it out; if my right hand offend me nerve me to cut it off and cast it from me; help me to lay aside every weight, whatever the encumbrance may be, and the sin that doth so easily beset me; and let me run with patience the race that is set before me, looking unto Jesus. Looking unto Jesus on this day, when Jesus in His circumcision sacrificed the liberty of His Sonship to the bondage of the law, we shall scarce gainsay His right to demand of us any surrender, however painful or difficult it may prove.

And here incidentally let me say that in that question, "What men are these with thee?" as far as it concerns your human companions, He seems to demand something else beside a possible surrender; for we know there are companions of circumstance more numerous perhaps than companions of choice. And as He asks in this sense of one and all, "What men are these with thee?" surely He sets me in this pulpit face to face with Him for an answer, "What men are these with thee? What are their special infirmities? What are their special temptations? What are their needs? What are their sorrows? Have I not ordained thee to watch and to help?" Ah, brothers, would

that my heart could touch each heart of yours, and know how to answer Him, and how to say to this one of you-even concerning your church-comings-You come here only that you may get; you come to pray and you come to listen, but your soul is dumb when we praise the Lord. To that one, Why do you withdraw or hold aloof from the Holy Table of the Lord? You are afraid to come; you cannot tear that sin out of your life-or you are afraid to come because you feel yourself so weak, and you do not believe in the power of grace to keep the weakest of the weak and the chief of sinners. Do you not see you are doubting and suspecting Christ ? Aye, and to that one, Friend, wherefore art thou come? This morning you have scarcely prayed one prayer; you hardly remember now one word of the lesson read, and all the time the demon thoughts have been going and coming as they chose. May the Lord have

mercy upon us all.

And if this and far greater responsibility rests on me, how much rests on you concerning your companions in your homes, in the houses which adjoin you, in the office, in the warehouses, on the exchange, in the sale-room-wherever your daily lot may be cast? Hear Christ say to you of them,

"What men are these with thee," and forbear at least to make Him the response which a murderer was the first to frame, "Am I my brother's keeper ?"

But above all, in the direct line suggested by our text, consider who are your friends, your chosen companions? Why have they been selected? Is your communion in any sense a communion of saints? Did you

ever in all your life say one word together about the service of God?

How do they

influence you, and how do you influence them?

Again, what are your favourite books? What is your favourite part of the newspaper? Your chief topic of conversation? What thoughts—what words are these with you?

Now is the time to answer. It may be soon too late. As the Israelitish searchers were counting the corpses of their enemies in the valley of battle, they lit upon Balaam in the midst of them, stark dead. O Prophet of the most high God! "what men are these with thee?" And for us also the closing scene will come one day; and when the fleeting objects of earth begin to recede from us, and the realities begin to assert themselves, if we are true in our answer now, and ready to act according to to our true

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answer, all will be bright; but if not, what then? It is indeed the hour of death. What we have here on earth called phantoms, are phantoms now no longer-they are real, they are great, they are near, they are nearer still; and the trembling, horror-stricken cry rings out into the unending echoes of eternity, "My soul, my soul, what men are these with thee?"

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