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Now, if men, instead of having these petty illuminations, would establish in themselves a fountain of light, how much better it would be! I have candles that will burn all day, and all night, and never go out. There is a reservoir which supplies them; and the light that come from it-oh, how * brilliant it is! The watcher blesses God for it. The mother, rising to look after her sick children, blesses God for it. It is a light that does not go out, and that needs no trimming and no replenishing. It stands in the house, and is always ready for use.

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What men want is not virtues that shall rise and shine for a little while and then go out again, but virtues that shall remain; and every time you establish an element of truth in yourself; every time you give permanence to a principle of honor; every time you take the old thorn-bearing branch, and cut it off, and graft upon it a fruitful branch, and see that it takes," that it is not "blown out," and that it becomes fruitful; every time you gain any element of truth, or faith, or meekness, or gentleness, or love, or patience; every time you give stability to anything good, in any direction, no matter if it be feeble, you have emerged; you have gone up; you are going out of the body, out of the flesh, out of burial, out of death; you are going toward life; and so you are having resurrection in dividend.

Every time men not only deliver themselves, but are made the instruments of God in delivering others, they have a participation in resurrection, and they also become a power of God, and ministering angels of resurrection.

The choir in this world which God listens to is not the great choir in the cathedral; it is not the exquisitely trained choir of the Sistine chapel; it is not the thundering choirs at the anniversaries of Meyerbeer, of Beethoven, of Handel, of Haydn, or any of those great musicians: the choirs which God listens to are mothers singing to their little children, and little children singing back to their mothers.

On this side of the gate of Heaven there is no place so near to heaven, or so much like heaven, as the household, if it be held under the power and dominion of wisdom and love. Mothers opening to their children the spiritual realm ;

mothers teaching their children to fly and to sing bird-like; mothers scattered up and down through villages and towns, in the wilderness and in far off places, instructing their children in things divine-these are the choirs from which rise the sweetest notes that ever survive the influence of this world and the disturbances of time, and mount up through storm and fire, and are wafted to the heavenly land, where they mingle themselves with the voices of the redeemed in glory.

Do you feel that you are living lonely? Do you feel that you are unrecompensed in this life? Do you feel that nobody knows you or cares about you? O thou that from morning to night art full of weariness, full of aching, full of watching, and full of anxiety; O thou that sayest in the morning, "Would God it were evening," and at evening, "Would God it were morning," be not desolate nor cast down. Prisoner of hope, look up; for thou art giving birth again to that to which thou didst first give life, in that thou art opening the child's soul to immortal blessedness. Thou art an angel of God ministering resurrection to that soul. And there is joy waiting for thee. And here is where that great word shall be fulfilled, "The last shall be first and the first last."

Kings shall come and cast their crowns before God and rejoice, if they have been governors in righteousness; and generals and great men of the earth shall come to bring their honor and glory into the kingdom of God; and when all that were great and all that were strong have made their contributions, the Judge shall say, "Make way, and let my chiefest ones approach. And then shall come the poor who have divided their poverty that those who were poorer might live. Then shall come the weak who took upon themselves mighty burdens, that those who were weaker should have a chance of life and hope. Then shall come the joyous who laid aside their brightness that they might make happy those who were joyless. Then shall come the obscure and the unknown who have suffered for others, and by their sufferings have given birth to the sculs of men. Then shall come many tremulous, who labored

a poor village schoolmistress, pale and

hard and faithfully and long for penurious wages, and at last, with broken health, went home to die. Then shall come many a poor man who had no patrimony, nor patron, nor wealth, nor place, but who did not, by reason of that which he lacked, hold himself aloof from the world, but strove to rescue his fellow-men. And these benefactors shall stand high in glory. There are many poor slaves who shall outstrip the magistrates who remanded them to bondage again. There are many who toil in the lowest places of earth, and who are unheard of and outcast, whom God and heaven are waiting for.

To all who are discouraged in their family life; to all who are disheartened in their mission labors; to all who are working in darkness, and with a poor prospect of success; to all who are engaged in their pastorates far away, without honor or remuneration or earthly comfort-O that to them might be brought the sense of God's coming glory!

For all those who are patiently and lovingly ministering the truth of the resurrection to such as are around about them; for all those by whom souls are being delivered from bondage; for all those who are developing the higher and nobler traits of spiritual life, and are casting death little by little under their feet-for all such God waits; and the crowns are shining, the palms are waving, and the songs are written and ready to burst forth, which shall greet them in the other life. And many and many who died alone, the next minute after the last throb of life on earth, shall find themselves in the midst of innumerable saints in heaven. Here pauper, and there prince; here joyless, and there joyful; here dying, and there life forever and forever in the presence of Him who shall say, amidst wreathed smiles divine, "Because I live, ye shall live also."

Work for yourselves, and work for others. Let your resurrection not be waited for. Take the earnest of it and the foretaste of it, that by and by the full blessedness of it may be yours.

PRAYER BEFORE THE SERMON.

WE draw near to thee, our heavenly Father, as they who watch in the night draw near to the morning; for though they cannot reach the Source of light, though they know not what it is that brings forth the morning, they behold its brightness, they see how all things shine and rejoice in the light thereof, and they set their faces toward that light, to be themselves bathed with it, though they may not know its cause. How shall we ever make ourselves joyful if we wait until we understand thee? We set our faces toward the thought of divine love in infinite power, working out wisdom, and truth, and purity, and nobility. Thou sittest in the seat of everlasting power-for goodness is everlastingly powerful; and over all chaotic things, over all tumults, over all conflicts and oppositions, goodness shall yet prevail, and the kingdom of God shall be a kingdom of joy and singing. The whole universe shall resound without sadness or sorrow to the praise of God, and with the gladness of infinite hearts made worthy to be the children of God.

To this consummation our thoughts go forward. Though we are living far apart, in one chamber of thy universe, doing work the ends and issues of which we do not understand, we desire to be patient, believing that the great Husbandman knows that which we do not, and that thou art seeing throughout the growths of time, throughout all the prolongation of the seasons, as One who dwells in the whole universe; and thou art rejoicing and dost rejoice from day to day. For, though to those who are in the valley the storm shuts out the sky, yet those who are upon the mountain behold the sun above them, and in the light thereof see what is taking place in the valleys below on either side of them. And so thou, sitting upon the circle of the earth, dost see how men are beset with sorrows and troubles; and yet thou dost know that thy work is going on. Thou dost know that amidst infinite confusion there still runs the clear line of God's purpose. It is the divine tendency that every soul shall grow brighter and brighter; and the river of life is flowing stronger and deeper unto the end.

We rejoice, O God, that we may rise into the faith of that, and so into the faith of time, and into some comfort and courage of our own selves, that we may join those who seek purity, and elevation, and spirituality, and that we may have that confidence which outruns the senses, and takes hold of the great invisible treasury of truths.

We pray that we may be lifted up on this day of rejoicing all the world around. We pray that we may be joined in the universal acclaim and gladness, and that we may bring our hearts and praises to Him who hath brought life and immortality to light

O Lord Jesus! thou art on this side our brother, and on that side our God. Thou art to us the interpretation of that which we cannot find out by reasoning or research. Thou dost bring down to us such a sense of what is going on in the spirit-life, that through that we have approach unto God; and by thee we are able to stand before him. We rejoice in the tenderness, in the personal sympathy, and in

the love which couples thee with ourselves. We rejoice that it is a love which springs not from our excelencies but from thy compassion. Thou seest our toil, thou seest with what labor-throes we are being born; thou seest how we are straitened on every side, and are as children who have not cast off their childhood, and cannot cast it off, struggling for growth and for strength in growing; and thou hast been as a merciful high-priest touched with our infirmities, and tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin, that thou mightest be our Deliverer; and when we are naked and open unto thee with whom we have to do, thou criest still: "Come boldly unto the throne of grace," that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help us in time of need.

We ask, O Lord Jesus! for the mercy of God, not as they who are without it, but as they who recognize the supply, and still desire its continuance. We pray for the strength which we need day by day; for the renewal of hope in its very foundation; for patience; for entire submission to the divine will.

Grant, we pray thee, that we may never give over our faith in a God over-ruling all things for good, in mercy toward us in proportion to our need. We pray that this day we may draw near to thee with thanksgiving and rejoicing, and with renewed hopefulness, and that this may be a day full of divine blessings to every waiting soul. Wilt thou especially draw near to every one that hath come hither seeking, in the sanctuary of God, strength and light that shall help him in his struggle of life. Draw near to every one according to his need. As thou didst address thyself on earth to all according to their several necessities, so again, and evermore, bring thyself to us as we need thee-to the poor in their poverty; to those who are feeble in weakness; to those who are disappointed and cast down, in their desolateness; to all who are uncertain, in their want of confirmation, in their perplexity, and in their over-turnings from day to day; to all that are suffering by reason of their faults and by reason of the faults of others round about them; to all whose hearts are sore with blighted affections; to all who are afflicted with bitter bereavements; to all from whom thou hast taken the light and the staff of strength; to all who remember the sorrows of days gone by.

Grant, we pray thee, that all may be able, this morning, to bear witness, that thou hast been present to them, and that thou hast given the strength and light of consolation to every one in due season.

We pray that thou wilt grant that all who have come up hither this morning, to bring their joy and their hope and their courage and their prospects of life before thee for thy blessing, may be able to offer themselves, in their gladness, to God, as an acceptable offering. may they never forget thanksgiving in the midst of sorrow. May they rather remember how much more reason there is for thanksgiving than for bitterness.

Grant that every day we may bring to thee, not our unceasing complaint, not our daily mourning: may we be the children of light, and bring something of love, and something of gladness, and something of courage, and something of aspiration, and something of hope, that we may please thee.

Grant that our faces may reflect thine, and be full of brightness.

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