in thy place, and believe that, living or dying, God, who loves thee better than thou dost love thyself, will do exceeding abundantly more for you than you can ask or think. If it be God's will that you should go, and if he calls you go, then it is better that you should go; and blessed are if you can go willingly and joyfully.

to

you

“But shall I, when the call comes to me, go thus? It is a sweet and triumphant thought; but shall I, of human desires, when death shall come, be blessed-I that tremble, and have so poor a hope, and a worse life-shall I be prepared when I am called to go hence ?" God, who sows, shall also ripen. He that has begun in you a work of grace will finish that work. He that is preparing you for your experiences now will see that you are prepared, by-and-by, for the emergencies of sorrow, and for the exit of death. Do not try yourself, nor test your preparation for dying, by the way you feel to-day. No man can imagine, in the hour of strength and vigor, how he will feel in the hour of death. There hangs the green pippin, which all the winds cannot now shake off from the boughs. "This is my mother-tree," it says, “and here will I remain, sucking juices and growing large and sweet from day to day." But something whispers to it, and says, "The time is coming when thou shalt be plucked from that bough, and gathered into some garner." And it says to itself, "How can I ever endure being plucked off ?" In its sour juices it tries to think how it will feel when its juices are sweet. In early summer, clinging to the parent tree with all its thongs so tenaciously that no shaking of the stem will bring it down, it tries to think what it will do in the mild autumn days when apples drop without the movement of a breath, because they are ripe.

Thou that art green, and art tied to life by many thongs; thou whose duty it is yet to stand in thy place, try not to think how thou wilt feel when it is thy duty to leave thy place and go forth. That God who takes care of us to-day will take care of us in the years that are to come. He who prepares you to live will prepare you to die. It will be easier for you to die than to live, when it is your duty to die. Looking forward, be not sorry because, behclding your brood

of dear little children, you feel that you could not willingly leave them if God should call you to depart. He never will call you until he has prepared you to depart. As thy day is, so shall thy strength be also.

Work, then, in courage; work in faith; work in hope; and work under all discouragements with contentment, knowing that you are doing more than you can see or measure; knowing that you are sowing seeds in the air, and that God's winds are wafting them hither and thither, and that they are springing up you know not where; knowing that you are serving a bountiful Master; knowing that though you are doing but little to the sight you are doing much to the faith, and much to the invisible thought; knowing that your life will go on in others, as others' lives have gone on in you, and that when the time shall come for you to depart, angels will come for you, and it shall be whispered above you by angelic voices, among which shall be the voices of those whom you have known and loved, "Blessed are the dying: come up hither." And as the vision of angels departs from our imagination, methinks I hear afar off, and growing less and less as they are farther and farther removed, till they sweep into the celestial city, the joyous shout, "Blessed are the dead they rest from care and sorrow, and their work goes on and follows them."

PRAYER BEFORE THE SERMON.

WE have no need to come to thee to quicken thy thought, or to inspire thee to remembrance, O our Father; for thine unslumbering watchfulness, and thine ever-living love are forever in advance of us. We know not what to pray for as we ought. We know not what are the best things for us. We know not the proportions of thine administration. We know not the way, though thou art the way. Thy providence is full of beautifulness, of light, of darkness, and of uncertainty to us. Naked and open are all things before thee with whom we have to do; but with us things are partial, and obscure, and uncertain; and we know not what is best, though thou knowest altogether. And we do not beseech thee that we may instruct thee, or remind thee, or persuade thee: we beseech thee for the things which we shall receive, asking or not asking, because thou hast made it blessed to ask; because the gifts that come through our solicitation are doubly blessed; because thou dost join thyself to our wants; and our wants are never so royally supplied as when they are supplied by thy haud, consciously made known to us.

And now, we beseech of thee, O thou best of all, thou most thoughtful and careful of all, that thou wouldst grant to us to-day thine own self, brought very near to our consciousness, that our thoughts may rest in thee; that our hearts may be refreshed in thee; that we may rise up from that which is low in us, from the flesh in all its ways, its duties, its burdens, its besetments; and that we may have this day a spiritual life, and dwell in the Lord's Spirit; that we may rejoice in the visions of the blessed, in things invisible; that we may forsake the enchantments of this lower life, its sorceries, and all its evil; and that we may, at last, in purity of thought and of anticipation, take something of victory before it is achieved, knowing who is the Captain of our salvation, and that he who has been the Author shall be the Finisher of our faith. May we beforehand rejoice in victories, and in a consummation which doth so bring to us thoughts of thy mercy and of thy wonderful way of dealing with us in life.

We beseech of thee, if there be those in thy presence who are sad by reason of the things of this world, that they may this day be cheered by the presence of their God. If there be those who are burdened, and know not how to carry the load which is put upon them, graciously may they be sustained by thee. May they lean upon God, and find that his promises are sure. If there be those who are sad at heart, and who look upon the world as vain, and who look upon the things of the world as dropping from beneath them, and as passing beyond their reach, may they rejoice in the thought that as this world goes, the higher, the better, the true world of the soul comes. May they have faith to look and discern it, not as afar off, but as near at hand-perhaps nearer than they believe.

Grant, we pray thee, to all those who are tried by sickness, by care, by bereavements, by sorrows of any kind, courage and patience, and

a disposition to improve the dealings of God with them for their spir itual and everlasting good.

We pray that thou wilt be with the young, and grant that they may grow up in a true courage, willing to know and to do the things which are right, and to withstand whatsoever is unmanly and wrong. May they grow to a stature of virtue and piety such as we have not ourselves reached.

Grant, we pray thee, that all those who are taught in our schools, and all those who are instructed in our various households, may come up in remembrance before thee. May the blessing of Almighty God rest upon them abundantly.

We pray for those who are laboring in word or in deed in our midst. If thou hast inspired them to charity and to largeness of sympathy with men, we pray that thou wilt clothe them also with the power of truth, and with that wisdom which is from on high, that they may go forth to their several spheres of labor and work in faith, rejoicing to see the fruit of their labor; and may they work even if they see it not.

We pray that thou wilt grant a blessing to rest upon those in the midst of life who are enduring cares and feeling the winds of temptation's piercing currents; and may they be sustained in rectitude. May they maintain a Christian manhood, and be able to overturn their adversaries, and put aside the snares that environ them.

We pray that thou wilt grant thy blessing to the aged, whose years on earth are taking hold of the eternal years; and may every infirmity which speaks to them of age speak to them of renewed youth; may they rejoice that the journey is almost past, and that the new Jerusalem is almost in sight.

We pray that thy blessing may rest upon all the churches, everywhere, that worship in thy name. Purify thy people. Give them more and more the Spirit of Christ. More and more give them sympathy with all that labor for the common cause of God among men. And we pray that thou wilt overrule all divisions and dissensions and temptations to bitterness which prevail. We pray that thou wilt lead thy church universal through all its besetments in such a way that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ may not be disowned in his own house, and that gentleness and purity and meekness and divine love may vindicate the claims of thy people.

We pray for the nations of the earth. How many are yet unvisited by thy gospel! How many know not the truth of God! How many are ignorant of his Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ! We pray that thou wilt send abroad those who shall make known the unsearchable riches of Christ. May those who in distant lands dwell in the darkness of heathenism be strengthened in all patience, and be fruitful in abundant works, and rejoice, inasmuch as they know that their labor is not in vain in the Lord.

And so we pray that thou wilt press forward the promised day, and fulfill all those great and glorious predictions which so long have hovered in the twilight of prophecy. Grant that they may begin to fulfill themselves, and that all nations may be redeemed to the knowledge of God, to purity, to patience, to gentleness, to love, to

the whole circle of Christian graces. And may thy name on earth be everywhere honored, thy kingdom every where come, and the whole earth be filled with thy glory.

And to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, shall be praises evermore. Amen.

PRAYER AFTER THE SERMON.

Our Father, grant, we beseech of thee, that we may live in the full hope of the gospel, and in the full fruition of faith. May we not measure ourselves by the narrow and sensuous rules of time. May we rise to more of the divine conception, and judge of ourselves as God judges of us. May we so be able to put ourselves into thine hands, and our souls into thy care, that we shall be content in the allotments of thy providence, to go or to stay; to rise or to fall; to do whatever is best. Upon those who have feeble faith; upon those of downcast minds; upon those who are weary and are waiting and wishing for their departure; and upon those who are anxious to remain-upon all these may the divine influence rest down. May they have light while they are in darkness. May they every where be released from the coarseness of this world, and be able to lift themselves up into the serene and transparent faith of the life that is to come. And at last, bring us, gathered from every where, into the companionship of the blessed in heaven; and we will give the praise of our salvation to the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost Amen.