before you; that is, they have more chances of reaching heaven than you have.

Do not think that your danger lies in outbreaking sin. In some cases the danger lies there; but in some cases the danger lies in an intense spiritual conceit; in an arrogant morality; in an overweening estimate of your own goodness and safety. You do not feel that you need a Physician, and therefore you will die in your sins. You do not feel that you need a Deliverer, and therefore Christ is nothing to you. You are not conscious that you need bread, and therefore the bread of life is not brought to you. You say, "I am not blind -I see; I am not naked-I am clothed; I am not hungry-I am fed;" and yet you are blind and naked and hungry; and so you will perish, though there is salvation proffered to such as you are.

The time is coming when all things shall appear as they are, according to the spiritual measurement of things. The time is coming when you and I shall have served our term here, and shall have passed through sickness and death, and shall stand before God. You will go up, many of you, with your fancied excellences and your com. plaisant characters in your hand, to stand before God, only to see that you never knew him, and to hear him say, "I never knew you." Strangers, aliens, and enemies, you are, by evil works. Although you have sat much under the Gospel, and have all your life long been surrounded by beneficent influences, they have never brought your soul into a living communion with the spirit or the love of God. Immortality can only come by that; and you have lost your portion. And as you depart, glancing, and seeing the glory that you leave behind —then, methinks, some feeble voices shall be lifted up, and shall be heard. Some poor child of sin and sorrow, betrayed by her best affections, was carried down, down, down, till all that was within her said, "I am lost if God does not save me!" when, shot from the bosom of God's love, there came a ray of light, and she looked, and saw her Saviour. And ever since she has followed him; and she will enter the kingdom of heaven. And in that moment when she becomes the companion of God's angels, you, that never sinned as she did, nor listened to the voice of your passions; you that have turned your face from God and heaven, will go down, down, down, forever and forever, and will perish! And then you will know that it is possible even for a publican and a harlot to enter the kingdom of God, and you to be cast out.

I beseech of you, count not yourselves unworthy of eternal life. Break up these vain dependencies and this self-conceit. You are sinners, deeply, universally sinning, and unless you are born again of God's Spirit, you shall not see the kingdom of God.

PRAYER BEFORE THE SERMON.

We thank thee, our Father, that we are born again into the knowledge of thee; that higher than all earthly knowledge we have found that dear soul's experience which the heaven doth not teach, and which the earth doth not disclose; which can come only by thy Spirit speaking with our own-by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Thou hast lifted us by thy creating energy into life superior and spiritual; and we know God, whom to know aright is life eternal. But we know thee not perfectly; for thou art infinite, and only as we rise into likeness to thee can we learn thee. So remote are we, and so earthy in our affections, that we discern but the first elements of thy nature; but even this little is full of glory and full of joy. Yet who shall understand the greatness of thy power, and the wonders of thy goodness, that, still unfolding, shall flow down as the histories of eternal life. All the vast income of thy nature is ours; all the grandness of thy nature is for us; and we are yet, through manifold sufferings, through much teaching and tribulation, to come to this knowledge, Now it doth not appear; but it shall. Blessed be thy name that the means of light are growing more and more. Blessed be thy name that, as watchers in the night, we are beholding the east, and we see how steadily the twilight is gaining on the darkness. We are going toward home. We know it by the brightness of hope, by the upspringing of joy within us. We listen as they that wait for the singing of birds in the early day. And shall there not yet come to us here, wafted as from the heavenly city, the influences of those harpers that harp upon their harps therein? Shall we not know thee as those that have gone out from among us now do, singing, as it were, from the boughs of the tree of life, fledglings that have left our nest and us desolate, but are with God, beautiful, strong, and musical beyond any thing that ever was known upon the earth in the sweetest music? Do we not hear the voices again of those that did on earth speak? Are we not brought so near that the whisper of eternal spring is wafted from off the battlements of heaven to our conscious spirits?

What mean all these invitations? Are these not beckoning hands, if we could but behold them? Are these not longing hearts that wait to greet us, if we could but discern as they can? Why are we weary, why are we growing infirm, why is the sight failing and the ear growing heavy, why is the hand weaker and the foot tremulous, but that our youth is almost over? As we are coming less and less to need these bodily organs, thou art giving us the sacred intimation that they are soon to be laid aside. And in the triumph of faith, in the greatness of our hope, in the uplifting of our joy, and in those sacred ministrations, secret and mysterious at times, are we not being taught by thy Great Spirit that we are almost done with the school, and are soon to go back home to our Father's house? We thank thee for the exile, we thank thee for the instruction; but we shall yet thank thee with unutterable joy, we shall yet stand before thee filled with thanksgiving, that we are permitted to come again, and to enter into thy sacred presence, and into the precincts of thy home.

Blessed, O Lord God ! are they that know thee, and are known of thee; and wretched are they whom the world is crowning, and caressing, and encircling, and causing to give up all of themselves that is joyful and pure for pitiful earthly possessions. Oh! arouse those that are taking their whole joy in this world. Awaken in the souls of those that are filled with ambition, and that swell high with the hope of youth, those desires which shall set their ambition still higher, and make them yet more covetous of sacred joy.

We beseech of thee, O Lord! that thou wilt draw near, this morning, to those who have walked the way of life till time hath whitened their hair; who are beginning to pass down upon the other side, and yet have no God, and have no right to say, Our Father; who are yet feeding upon the husks without a thought of their degradation and emptiness, and without a thought of

arising and returning to their Father's house. Oh! that thou wouldst this day speak some word to their souls. Awaken in them that longing which shall bring them back to thee.

Are there those who, in the burden and heat of the day, are, by their care and daily avocations, hidden from thee? Break through all their care and labor, and disclose thyself unto such.

Are there those that, in the morning of life, in the plenitude of strength and buoyant hope think they need not God? O Lord! we pray that thou wilt incline them to consecrate the dew of their youth unto thee, that all the days of their life they may walk in the honored service of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

We beseech of thee that if there are any who are discouraged; if there are any that are out of the way, and know not how to return; if there are any whom the law could not restrain from transgression, but who, having transgressed, find the law thundering against reformation and terrifying their souls, oh ! have compassion on them. And as they can not come to thee, O thou Shepherd! search for them. Come to seek and to save, and bring them back again, the triumphs of thy grace.

We beseech of thee that thou wilt listen, this morning, to the prayers of parents. How many are there that, this morning, utter thanksgiving! Sanctify their grateful hearts. Make them more abundantly grateful. How many are there that come with anxious petitions, desiring strength and wisdom to direct, conscious of the greatness of their task? Oh! that they might feel that they are leaning upon God, and that he will never leave them, nor forsake them.

And hear the cry of anguish. Hear that which is unutterable. O Lord God! thou knowest the secret suffering; thou knowest the inward crucifixion of love; and we beseech of thee that thou wilt listen to those that can not speak, nor form their thoughts and feelings into shape, but that can only hold up hearts wounded and anguished, and can scarcely say, Behold, and judge, and help! We beseech of thee that thou wilt help all such; that thou wilt be a present help to them in time of trouble; that thou wilt be to them as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; as a fortress and refuge into which they may run; as a pavilion in which thou wilt hide them till the storm be overpast:

We beseech thee that thou wilt grant thy blessing to rest upon all those hearts of love that pray one for another; and upon all those hearts of pity that pray for the outcast, and wandering and uncared for; and upon all those hearts of grace that supplicate in behalf of the whole world which lieth in wickedness. Move thy people more and more to prayer, and graciously incline thine ear, and abundantly answer their petition.

Grant, we pray thee, that thy church universal, this day, may receive thy benediction. May it be a day of the shining of the Sun of Righteousness. Send forth thy Gospel into all our land. Raise up churches in waste and destitute places. Give strength to those that are established, and yet are in feebleness and infancy. Be with all that are in sickness and pain and poverty, and that yet faithfully bear witness to the Son of God. And we beseech of thee that thou wilt every where promote the cause of righteousness and true holiness. Spread intelligence throughout our land. Bless all colleges, all seminaries of learning, all schools. And grant, we pray thee, that there may a sanctifying influence go with education, and that the conscience as well as the understanding may be trained Godward.

Bless not our land alone, but all nations. The field is the world. Send reapers into the great harvest-field. And may there be an abundant ingathering. May the day of prediction begin to draw near, and the whole earth see thy salvation.

We ask it in the adorable name of the Beloved, to whom, with the Father and the Spirit, shall be praises everlasting. Amen.

PRAYER AFTER THE SERMON.

OUR Father, we beseech thee that thou wilt bless the word of exhortation. May it alarm those that should be alarmed. May it put upon more earnest and sober thought those that are trifling with their souls. We beseech of thee that men may see, not that morality is not good, but that it can not save the soul. May they see that the mightiness of salvation can be achieved only by the power of the Highest. Oh! that they might open their hearts to the incoming of the light of God! Blessed Spirit, make the truth powerful! O Spirit of God! take the hearts in thine hands, of those to whom this truth is preached. Break down their opposition; break through all their defenses and vails. At last let the conviction enter their souls, "We are undone before God; and only the grace of God can save us." Oh! out of this deep depression, and out of this self-renunciation, may there spring up a sweet and enriching hope of grace; may there spring up that in this life which shall flourish mightily in death, and gloriously in the life which is to come. And to thy name shall be the praise, Father, Son, and Spirit. Amen.

VOUCHSAFE to us, from thine high and holy place, O Lord our God, those quickening influences by which we shall know thee, and rise up into communion with thee. Deliver us from the thrall of our senses. Deliver us from the course and current of habits that sweep us away from God and from heaven. Drive away the doubts that cloud our minds, that the light may shine clearly and strongly upon us. Quicken our spiritual apprehension, and the joy of love, and its humble boldness, by which we may draw near to the very Holy of holies, and partake of all that thou hast there, being heirs with Christ, to the inheritance of eternal glory. These mercies we ask in the name of the Beloved. Amen.

"AND grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."-EPH. iv. 30.

ALL religions which have flourished in the world have had this in common a belief in the existence of superior beings, or gods, who were active in the government of the world. A divine government, as distinguished from polytheism, or the worship of idolatrous gods, is sublimely disclosed and illustrated in the Jewish Scriptures of the Old Testament. In the Christian Scriptures of the New Testament, we find this one God represented in a threefold nature; and the terms "Holy Spirit," "Jesus Christ," and "Father" are employed interchangeably. Especially is it true of Jesus Christ, that every act of sovereignty is ascribed to him. Every attribute of divinity is at one time or another implied or asserted. If one analyzes the feelings and experiences recorded by the apostles toward the Father, and then their experiences and expressions toward the Lord Jesus Christ, it will be found impossible to discriminate between the one set of experiences and the other. If the emotions expressed toward God are worship, then the emotions expressed toward the Lord Jesus Christ are not one whit lower in the scale of worship.

But when the Master was about to leave the world, he promised a Comforter, or a divine Spirit, called by the Christian church "The

LESSON: Phil. ii. HYMNS (Plymouth Collection): Nos. 296, 381, 823.