of seeing the time when in even heathen nations the true spirit of reflected Christianity shall have its influence, and when men can go around and around the globe and find in every tribe and section-in the wilderness and everywherethe common feeling that man is a child of God, and goes back to God, and is immortal.

That is not all. I ask you to consider what religion is according to the definition of Paul:

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."

He goes into the

A man, going down to Boston, hears of Cushing's place. Everybody, I suppose, who has been to Boston, has heard of that place. There are magnificent flowers, and all sorts of fruits there. The fruits are the world's wonder for variety and lusciousness and perfectness. This man drives out to Cushing's, and goes around the place. When he gets there, the first thing he looks at is the fence; and he says, "Well, this place is not what it is cracked up to be-look at that fence! I have a better fence than that about my lot at home." He goes into the grounds and looks at the lawns, shaven and shorn, and he says, "I'd give more for my old medder with timothy hay in it than this docked, shaved lawn." He looks at the house, and says, "I thought it would be a fine castle, but it is only a house. orchard and looks at the fruit-trees, and great deal of bad bark on those trees." the fruit; and what has the fence, or the or the bark on the trees to do with that? of the value of the orchard, or garden, or grapery, or hothouse is to try the fruit. The test of the fruit is the fruit itself. If the apples, and the pears, and the plums, and the peaches, and the grapes, and the figs, and what not, are good, that is enough. If they are large and ripe and luscious, what more can he ask? I do not care whether a man whitewashes or blackwashes his fence, or whether he uses guano or barnyard manure, or what his mode of cultivation may be, the question is, Does he get good fruit? If he does, his method is good.

says, "There is a But he came to see lawn, or the house, The way to judge

Now, I take it that the apostle is speaking of religion

when he speaks of the fruit of the Spirit; and the fruit of the Spirit is what? Orthodoxy? Oh, no. Conscience? Not a bit of it. One of the fruits of the Spirit is love; and is love dead? Does it no longer rock the cradle ? Does it no longer sit patiently through the day and night by the bed of pain and sickness? Does it weep no longer for the outcast wanderer? Is there no sacrifice that love makes?

Another fruit of the Spirit is joy; and is joy gone? Is there no merriment among children? Are there no longer hours of conscious fidelity and heroism? Are there no acts, are there no developments, which imply the exercise of the noblest parts in men? Are they shaking down no fragrant dews in the soul? Is joy like a worn-out instrument whose strings are broken and whose body is smashed? Is joy voiceless and tuneless ? Was the world ever before so full of joy as

to-day?

Peace, the strangest of fruits-is it not slowly coming to be that which is the unison of all other qualities with blessedness in the soul? I do not mean that peace which is lethargic and sacrifices nothing, but that peace which comes from the excitement of all parts of our nature, carrying them above the ordinary line of experience. It is high up that the most perfect peace is. There are places in the nooks and ravines of the mountains where there is peace; but they who go up in balloons say that as they rise above the earth all sounds die away, and that high up in the pure ether there is perfect silence. And so, as men rise through the experience and trials of life, they find that high up there is a realm of peace. Is peace dying?

Some tell me they do not believe in religion because of the way that men act in Wall street; because they see elders, and deacons, and ministers even, doing wrong things. Of course they do wrong. They would not be in the human body if they did not. But go and see what mothers bear for Go and see, in miniature, that same atoning sarrifice which Christ fulfilled, in those who literally give their life, living it, giving it, for the unworthy, the poor and the needy. Do you tell me that religion is dying out? It blossoms everywhere. Every household is full of it. Every village is filled

sons.

with it. Orthodoxy, the exact statement of things, may be shattered; church order may be changed; but never will religion die out until the human soul is void of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, faith, meekness, and temper

ance.

Ye, then, who mourn because particular modes are changing, and think that religion is dying out, look deeper, and pluck up hope out of your despair, and confidence out of your fear. And to you that think religion is going away because of science, let me say that science is the handmaid of religion; it is the John Baptist, oftentimes, that clears the way for true religion. By religion I do not mean outward things, but inward states. I mean perfected manhood. mean the quickening of the soul by the beatific influence of the divine Spirit in truth, and love, and sympathy, and confidence, and trust. That is not dying out. Not until the soul of man is quenched can religion die out. Not until God ceases to be God can religion be quenched in this world. It may have its nights and days; it may have its winter and summer; it may be subject to the great laws of oscillation and change; but, nevertheless, the word of God standeth sure; its foundations are immutable; and not until the last generation has been born and translated, not until the last tear has been shed, not until the last pulse of love has throbbed, not until the new heavens and the new earth appear, will religion die on the earth or lose its power among

men.

PRAYER BEFORE THE SERMON.

WE rejoice, our Father, that our thoughts are lifted, not by our wills alone, but by the inspiration of God; for we cannot discern the things that are spiritual and afar off save by divine help. Thou that broodest the world, and dost spread abroad thy wings and it is night, and let thy face shine and it is day-thou everywhere the beloved and the loving, we rejoice in thy succor and inspiration and help; and we implore thee, this morning, not because thou needest imploration, but because it is sweet for us to ask, and to behold that the blessings which we ask are given graciously. We draw near to thee as our children to us, that draw near with their helplessness and with their wants. We desire to draw near to thee with their confiding faith, and their love unaffected. We call thee our Father. Thou hast made thyself known to us as such. We do not discern in thee dreadful power, nor do we discern in thee the scowl of oppression and of cruelty. Our thought of thee is of all truth, of all justice and equity, of all gentleness and sympathy, of all love and helpfulness. What our father and our mother were to us, that art thou ten thousand times ten thousand fold. We grope as in the dark. We are like tapers here. Thou art the sun rolling in the immensity of thy being, and giving light and warmth to every oue. We are afraid, O Lord our God, often, to trust in thee, fearing to exhaust thy mercy, which is ineffable, universal and inexhaustible. Thou dost pity us, knowing our frame, and remembering that we are dust. Thou dost succor the ill-deserving, causing thy sun to rise upon the good and the bad, sending rain upon the just and upon the unjust, and filling the earth with thy bounty so that all creatures, not excepting those that are seemingly most worthless, are still cared for. The insect of the air, the worm of the earth, the fish of the sea, the cattle upon a thousand hills, all things that are created, are objects of thy thought. Thou dost watch over them; and how much more is man, made in thine image, destined to draw near unto thee, and to become a son of God in the heavenly land, perfected. In thee is our hope. Not in ourselves, but in the greatness, in the mercy, in the grace, and in the everlasting bounty of our God, we find inspiration of hope and of trust; for thou dost shelter those that know how to come underneath the shadow of thy wings. Thou art the tower to which, when hard pressed, thy people run, and are saved from their pursuers. Thou art the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; and blessed are they that know how to sit down in the shade in the midst of surrounding heat. We desire, O Lord our God, that thy name may shine more clearly, and that thy heart may be more aboundingly known among thine own people, and that those who are children may become witnesses more worthy of their parentage, and have more of joy and strength and faith and patience ministered unto them through the might and goodness of their God.

Vouchsafe thy blessing to rest upon us now, in the hour in which we are gathered together. How many of us! From what diverse ways! From what different experiences! And yet all united together by common infirmity, by commor sinfulness, by a common

need of forgiveness, and by a common necessity for that love which comes only from the soul of God.

Vouchsafe to each one in thy presence, this morning, that which each one needs. Search the hidden grief of every one, and either heal it or give grace to bear it. Be with those that are near to thee in supplication day by day, and that will not let thee go without the blessing longed for, more precious to them than life itself. Hear their prayers, and answer them.

Those that carry sorrows, and wear them as a garment all the year round, and are acquainted with grief-vouchsafe thy presence, likewise, this day to them; and may they hear inwardly their name called of thee, even as Mary, in the midst of her tears, was called by her name by our Lord and Saviour.

And we beseech of thee that thou wilt strengthen the weak, and succor those that are in peril through overmastering temptations. Deliver from evil those that are beginning to be drawn into its whirl. We beseech thee that thou wilt look piteously upon every want and every necessity. May those that hunger and thirst after righteousness more and more be fed and filled. May those that are drawing near to the confines of life rejoice and look away to that eternal youth beyond, which waits for them. May those that are in the midst of life fulfill their duties with a right manly sincerity and earnestness. May those that are young grow up uncontaminated. With truth and honor and manhood undefiled may they enter into the places of those that are departing, and do better than their fathers have done. We beseech of thee that thou wilt grant thy blessing to rest upon all our friends that are separated from us. Go with us homeward. Lead us to our children and our children's children, to our companions, to our parents, to our brothers and sisters, far away across the seas, in the wilderness, everywhere; and unite us in that love which is upon them and upon us at the same time.

We beseech thee that thou wilt grant thy blessing to rest upon this house and household; upon those that abide here and minister to our comfort; upon all that are gathered here to spend the days of vacation; and grant that this house may be filled with peace and joy. May everything that is benign and pure rule over whatever is selfish and proud and hateful. May the spirit of joy and of gladness, springing from sincerity and purity, prevail here from hour to hour, so that the blessing of the Lord shall dwell upon this place forever more.

We commend ourselves to thee. Take care of us while we live. Mark our years out for us. Not for our asking give us more or less, but according to thy wisdom. Think for us, dear Lord; ordain for us; and then make us able to say, in every emergency, The will of the Lord be done; till we have passed the vail, and the shadows flee, and the morning comes. Arise, O Sun of Righteousness, with healing in thy beams, and bring us where there is no night ano, uɔ wɔrg serrow forever. Amen.