A man takes down from the garret a cradle, and says to himself, "In that you once lay;" and he laughs, and imagines himself crying because he is hungry, and being taken up by the nurse, and fed. He cannot realize that he was ever in a state of infancy, and that he has unfolded so much.

So, when, from the other life, in its power and glory, you look back to the conditions of this life, you will pity yourselves that you were ever in such a low estate; but the grandeur of the outcome will a thousand times repay you for all the strife and struggle that you have gone through.

I call you, young men and young women, to a Christian life. I call you not to join a church-a church is a mere school-house, whose educating influences may help you or not, according as you use it; but I call you to something grander than joining a church: I call you to join God; to become partakers of the divine nature; to unite yourselves to all that is glorious in universal being. I call you to the utmost stretch of development, to largeness, to liberty, to strength, to all that is magnificent in the possible conception of manhood. I call you to take it easily if you can take it easily; or, I call you to take it with tears if you can take it only so. If the way is strait and narrow to you, nevertheless tread it it is worth your while. If it be difficult, nevertheless tread it, and come to that which is true, that which is pure, that which is courageous, full of faith, full of self-government, and full of joy, springing out of right living. I call you to an inward life. I call you to virtue. I call you to glory and immortality.

PRAYER BEFORE THE SERMON.

THOU hast drawn near to us, our Father, and thou hast called us by endearing names that our heart knows right well; or else why should we desire thee and yearn for thee? When we lift cur thoughts and our affections to thee we know that thou hast leen calling us, and we rejoice to think that we are needed by theenot needed by thy power, not needed by thy glory, but needed by thy love. Having loved thine own, thou dost love them unto the end. Thou hast not forgotten, and never dost forget, those toward whom thou hast expended thy thoughts of mercy and grace. And now, O Lord our Saviour, we desire, looking upon thee, to discern what we should be. We would take no ignoble conception of life, and character, and duty. We desire to be conformed to thy glorious image. We desire to walk in the possession of those virtues which make thee illustrious in time, and glorious through eternity. Teach us the way of humility, of self-abasement, of self-denial, and of joy in suffering. Teach us how to partake of thy nature, and so become thy children, not by name, but in very spirit. Forgive us the long delays which have prevented the work of grace in our hearts; forgive our dullness, our constantly turning back, our discouragement and our weariness by the way. Forgive our imperfection, and whatever has grieved thee; and give not up the work which thou hast begun in us, and which shall be more glorious inasmuch as it is difficult. If thou shalt perfect in us the image of holiness and of God, and make us like unto thyself, and present us before the throne of thy Father, pure and spotless, how great shall be the glory of this achievement of thy grace! For thine own sake we beseech of thee forsake us not, nor give us over to doubt, or to backsliding, or to apostacy. May we have a faith that shall not fail, a virtue that shall abound mcre and more, and all patience, all self-denial, and self-government; and grant that we may be steadfast therein.

Grant, we beseech of thee, that by the power which we derive from thee of joy, of peace, of hope and of courage, we may not only make our own lives more radiant, but may make the lives of those around us more cheerful.

Since men are bearing heavy burdens, and are goaded with cares and many troubles from day to day, may it be ours to be messengers of peace to them. Teach us how to comfort; how to illumine; how to make men happy; how to fill the world around us with rejoicing. May we please, not ourselves, but others, for edification.

We pray, O Lord, that thou wilt grant that those who are engaged in good works, in labors among men in imitation of thee, may be strengthened with all patience and with all hopefulness. Wilt thou be pleased to grant, very speedily, to them that sow the seed, the sheaf garnered. We thank thee that there is so much encouragement to labor. We thank thee that there is between the asking and the answer so brief a space. We thank thee that those who go forth come again rejoicing so soon.

Bless all those who are engaged in making known the word of

life-in bearing the fruit of the Gospel to those who are less favored than themselves.

We beseech of thee that all the members of this church, of its schools and of its missions, may dwell in thy remembrance, and be quickened day by day, not only bearing out blessings to others, but receiving blessings themselves. May they be built up in thy faith, and established in those virtues which they seek to inculcate.

We pray for all the churches in this city, and all who labor in them. May they be united more and more perfectly in love. May all evils that offend and divide be taken away. May thy people of every name see eye to eye. May heart beat responsive to heart. And through this land take away all causes of offense. Unite thy people that there may be a power for intelligence and right-living that shall be felt throughout this great nation.

We beseech of thee that thou wilt bless all colleges and universities and schools, and that thou wilt bless those that teach, that intelligence may prevail everywhere, and be the forerunner of virtue and of true piety.

Let thy kingdom come in all the world. May men who have lived to destroy learn to protect and build up. May nations be dashed against each other no more. May peace and prosperity prevail the world around, that thy name may be honored and glorified on earth as it is in heaven.

Hear us in these our petitions, and answer us through the great grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom, with the Father and the Spirit, shall be praises evermore. Amen.

PRAYER AFTER THE SERMON.

OUR Father, wilt thou add thy blessing to the word of exhortation and exposition. Make thy truth to shine into the inward heart of every one. Let us not stumble upon the letter nor upon the instrument. May we have the Holy Ghost-thy divine inshining-to teach our inner man, that we may have experimental knowledge of thee, and of our life in thee. May we feel that the channels between thee and our souls are not stopped. May there be an influx, a constant flow of thy life into ours. So may we live patient under trials, strong under burdens, full of faith under clouds, and ready to live, ready to die, dying in life continually to all that is evil, and living to all that is good. Grant that the Spirit of God may thus be with us.

We thank thee for the hope of those who have gone before. How many dear little children of ours are with their Saviour and with God Our parents rest from their labors, and rejoice in their saintly habitations. How many companions of ours walk no more weeping, no more sick, no more suffering! How full has heaven become of those who are precious to us! And, Lord, we are coming, sometimes

lingering, sometimes losing our way, but drawn by a thousand memories of love, drawn by the inspiration of God, drawn by the power which controls the universe; and grant that we may so come that thou shalt not be ashamed of us. So may we come that there shall be many flocking to witness our entrance, to rejoice in us and with us, and to lift us into the presence of the Divine. Then, in the very hour of our attainment and triumph, what crowns and laurels we have we will cast at thy feet, O blessed Jesus Christ, Master, Model, Saviour, Lord, saying, Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name be the praise and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

THE PROBLEM

OF LIFE.

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."-1 JOHN iii. 2, 3.

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."-ROM. viii. 18-21.

Man's imperfection, the universal sinfulness of man, the corruption of man's conduct, and, in one sense, of his nature, has been admitted in all ages, and by all schools of Christian theology, and just as much in other religions as in the Christian.

It is a fact about which there can be no disputation. The whole world lies in wickedness.

The theory or philosophy of the fact of universal sinful ness has varied. Without regarding for a moment the conceptions given by those of other religions, there are two Scriptural germs from which two very different views of the condition of the human race may be evolved. One is the historic, or supposed historic, view regarding the origin of man; and the other is what might be called the prospective, the prophetic view, as regards the development or termination of man-one acting from the past, and laying foundations in supposed history, and the other taking its forms

SUNDAY MORNING, June 7, 1874. LESSON: Matt., xx. 17-34. HYMNS (Plymouth Collection): Nos. 255, 1,235, 1,263.