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and as you grow up to be parents, may he, in his infinite mercy, deliver you from the anguish of seeing those whom you have borne and reared through years of anxiety smitten down and swept away by the fiery scourge.

And as you see those who are struggling with temptations around about you, be generous toward them; give them a helping hand; be full of sympathy for them; do what in you lies to save them; bear with them if they stumble after reformation, and lift them up. Never give up a man. long as there is life in him, help him; even if your helping him does not do him any good, it will do you good.

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And may God, at last, bring us all into his kingdom. May he purify our hearts, and justify our lives, so that at length we may stand in the blessedness of the life to come, without fear, without temptation, and without sin.

PRAYER BEFORE THE SERMON.

WE beseech of thee, our Father, to grant us that inspiration by which all that is like thee in us may rise into power, that we may discern thy presence. By our inward sensibility, by all those affectious in us which rise at thy call, by a heart that is itself disposed to cry out, Abba Father, by trust, by love, by hope, by peace, may we dis cern thy presence. May we not seek the soul's companionship according to the thoughts and the ways of the body, as if only they were near us whom we can see, and as if the best part of our life and nature could be discerned by the senses. Grant, we pray thee, that our souls may learn to recognize the invisible world, and the helps which belong to our lower life. May we rise into the confidence of thine existence, and into full trust and absorbing love. Forgive those things which are faulty and sinful in our dispositions. Have compassion upon those things which come from our infirmities, from our weakness and from our inexperience. Whether they be sinful or not, grant that deliverance from on high by which we may be borne safely through. From day to day may we gain in strength, in knowledge, in virtue, in patience, in fidelity, in all that makes us Christ-like. We pray that thou wilt help those who are discouraged, and cause them, though they go slowly, to feel that they are in the right way so long as they are serving thee. Have compassion upon those who are as men traveling in a darkened night, and whose doubts and fears are more than their joys. Have compassion upon those who meet with stormy times; who are often overwhelmed and carried away, though they fain would pursue the right way.

We beseech of thee that thou wilt be near all the children of night, and all that are captives. Unbind them, and open their prisou doors, and bring them forth.

May those who have consecrated their youth to thee, and who stand in primal strength, unperverted, not be vain and proud, nor glory in their own power, nor in their own goodness. May they know that it is the grace of God, diffused through their parents, and through their households, and through all their education and circumstances, that has upheld and is upholding them. And we beseech of thee that they may feel themselves to be accountable for nobler fruit and larger exertion than those who combat with evil in themselves, and exhaust their forces in restraining their tendencies toward evil, lest they be utterly overthrown. We pray that thou wilt grant to all those who have had the true ideal of life administered to them, to those who have risen to the Mount of Vision, to those who have discerned the great world beyond, and felt its inspiration and help, by which they may bring hither, by a blessed impartation to their souls, the truths of that upper realm. Are there not many that are ordained to be comforters who do not exercise their gifts? Are there not many that are sent to be lightbearers who let men walk in darkness because they will not let their light shine? Are there not those who sit to be fed who should feed others? Are there not many that are forever asking and seldom giving?

We pray, O Lord, that thou wilt disclose the duties of life to every one. May all lay aside false shame, and indolence, and self-seeking, and whatever hinders them from disclosing the powers that are in them.

We pray that thou wilt fill this church with men and women who shall be workers together in the blessed cause of God. Spread the truth throughout all our land. Help those who are seeking better ways for men. May our whole nation be reformed, that it may be held back from violence, from avarice, from evil passions, from inordinate affections. We pray that thou wilt harmonize the counsels of this great people. May we be more and more intense in our desires for universal intelligence. And grant that liberty may not degenerate into licentiousness. May this Christian people, aised up and protected by the providence of God, become a light to guide other nations, and to convince them of their need of knowledge, in order that they purge away the blackness of ignorance, and all imps of superstition, and all temptations to tyranny by reason of men's weakness.

So, in the strength which comes from virtue, and intelligence, and piety, may thy people every where stand strong in that liberty wherewith Christ makes them free. Have compassion upon the world. Hasten, we beseech of thee, the day when all men shall know thee from the greatest unto the least, when thy kingdom shall come, and when thy will shall be done in earth as it is done in heaven.

And to thy name shall be the praise, Father, Son, and Spirit, evermore. Amen.

PRAYER AFTER THE SERMON.

OUR Father, we pray that thy blessing may rest upon the truth spoken to-night. Grant that it may do good, exciting thought, and inciting men to considerateness who are careless. Grant, we pray thee, that those who are in peril may be withdrawn from their danger. Grant that those who are safe may be maintained in their safety. We pray for the whole community. We pray that the power of Christian truth may elevate it on every side. We pray that labor may become sweeter, and its remunerations surer. We pray that contentment may follow acquisition. We pray that men may learn how to be happy without becoming frivolous. We pray that mer may use this world as a means of preparing for the world to come. May they learn to use all the the things which God has created without abusing them. And bring us all, by and by, to our Father's house, through riches of grace in Christ Jesus. Amen.

GOD'S GRACE.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”—EPH. ii., 8.

The salvation of men is the result of the divine nature. It is the effluence and the effect of the disposition of God. Whatever governmental theories may have hitherto been entertained, whatever philosophical explanations may have been made, the fact will become more and more apparent that the reason of men's salvation, in the end, is that the tendency of the divine government-which is but another word for the effect of the divine disposition—is to communicate everlasting life to men.

No exposition of Christianity will be abiding and effective which does not take into account the whole of man, mankind, and all the circumstances which act upon men. It is easy for us to form theories in the study, using those men about us who are the best descended, the best educated, and the most favorably situated, as our specimens; but no theory springing from Christianity will be valid and permanent which does not to take into account the whole race, under all their circumstances, and under all the influences that have acted, and are acting, and will continue, according to the constitution of things, to act upon them.

What does ideal perfectness require a man to be? or, in other words, what does the law of God require of mankind? -for the law of God can be nothing other than the law of ideal perfectness. There is a law spoken of in the Word of God-the ceremonial law of the Jews; and, for the most

SUNDAY MORNING, May 24, 1874. LESSON: Isaiah lv., HYMNS (Plymouth Collection): Nos. 130, 180, 660.

part, that is the meaning of the term as employed in the epistles; because the apostles who wrote were writing to their countrymen, and were seeking to enlarge them and set them free from the old Mosaic economy. Then there is society law, such as men find all around them. But divine lawthat on which we are to reason in determining right and wrong respecting life and the great events of the futurethat law cannot be regarded as synonymous with the Mosaic law, or society law, or any other law than that of ideal perfectness in every part of man's nature. Such a law as this demands perfect conditions of body; for the mind can no more act rightly without its connections in this world, than a steam-engine can go to sea without a ship's hull under it. We all know that the mind grows sick with the body, and grows well with the body, to a certain degree; and though we may not be able to mark the limitations exactly, yet the general truth is universally admitted that the body and mind. in our present circumstances so work together that one affects the other, that one is dependent upon the other, and that for the highest mental action there must be the highest bodily conditions.

The ideal perfectness which God requires demands the right use, under proper limitations, provisions and government, of all the appetites and all the passions which are put into man's economy. There is not one of them that is not in its central nature and purpose divine, wise and necessary, as a constituent element of humanity; and it is the right use of them, limiting them simply to their normal functions and proper government, that is demanded by the ideal law of God. That law also requires that men should develop their right functions in right lines, and in right associations or company. And the education and predominance of the moral sentiments and spiritual elements which are in men is to be secured. The control of the passions, the development of the social affections, and the unfolding of the moral nature of man-these things are to take place in the light of reason, of the imagination, and of the highest forms of intelligence.

Now, consider that these things are to be accomplished in some sense against nature. Consider, in other words, that it