PRAYER BEFORE THE SERMON.

WE beseech of thee, our Father, to lift us up above the dominion of our senses, and above the influence of care and trouble, and the sound of things upon the earth, into that sacred stillness where thy Spirit communicates-into that realm where we know thee, and know not how we know. Breathe upon us the inward tranquility and silence of the uttermost thought and feeling, that God may beam in upon us things celestial.

Grant, we pray thee, this day, such a sense of the glory of our inheritance, such joy unspeakable, such gladness in view of that life which waits for us, and such a sense of the gentleness of Christ, of the infiniteness of his love, of the wonderful tenderness of his compassion, and of the transcendent patience and gentleness of his administration, that we shall seem to ourselves surrounded with all the forces of the infinite and of the omnipotent, and with all the glory and wisdom of the life above, so that we may not stand for a moment in any sense of our own wisdom, or power, or excellence. For to us there is something better than that-the love of God; the bosom of thy kindness; thy disposition of goodness. How sure a refuge it is! and how blessed are they who are able, in opening their eyes, to behold thy face smiling upon them, and saying to them, In me is thy strength.

Lord God, if thou art willing, we are at last made willing in the day of thy power. We strive by all the strength that is in us to lay aside our pride; thou knowest that we have battles with ourselves; and though we are so small, and so far away from thee, none of our strifes and struggles are insignificant in thy sight. Thou knowest that we strive to lay aside selfishness, and all its hateful brood; and thou beholdest with what ill success we labor; and thou seest how we lift up feeble hands, tired at the oar, and pray for that wind from thee which shall waft us against the forces of our nature, and the forces of life and corrupted society. Thou knowest how we are bestead by the powers of the world around about us, and by the princes of the power of the air. Thou art not ignorant of the host of temptations which are brought to bear upon us. Thou beholdest how all our most precious senses and faculties beguile us, and lead us away from the true path. Thou seest how strong we are toward the things of the flesh, and how feeble we are toward the things of the spirit. Our helplessness is such that we seem to ourselves like children that have been lost on a ship, and are in the midst of the mighty deep, with the storm above them and the waves around them, and with nothing to save them. O Lord, our God, thou art the Saviour of Israel. Not by what thou hast done, but by what thou art, and hast been from all eternity, thou art the Saviour of the lost. This is thy Godship, this is the meaning of thy holiness, and this is the great truth of the sanctuary of thy nature that thou dost love the unlovely, and strengthen the weak, and bring back the wandering, and restore the souls of those that have gone astray; and that by the power of goodness thou dost inspire goodness; and that by everlasting love thou dost wait patiently for the healing of every soul, and for its formation in thin, own image.

Now, we worship thee, and rejoice in thee. We praise and magnify thy name, not because we must, but because our souls do ache within us to give back to thee something of that which we feel that we are receiving in overmeasure every day and every hour. And if all the flowers of the field by their fragrance do not cease to speak of their dependence upon the sun that created them, what should be the volume of the praise and joy which should go up from the multitudes of flowering hearts which thou, Sun of Righteousness, hast, with the kindling of thy beams, brought into life and beauty? Oh, that there might be a wider sense of thy presence in us! Oh, that there might be a joining together of heart to heart! And as we humble ourselves, and are conscious of our weakness and our littleness, Oh, that a tide of gratitude might flow forth to-day, the songs of heaven mingling with the songs of earth in praising thee, Lord God Almighty, in love, and wisdom, and power, for what thou art, and for what thou art doing.

And now, we beseech of thee, that thou wilt glorify thyself by the services, by the sacrifices, by the suffering, by the joy, by the life, by the activity, by the standing still of thy servants-by all their expérience. And we pray, to-day, that thou wilt fill them with such a sense of thy goodness to them, and of the graciousness of thy love to them, that they shall have no other feelings but those which shall rise spontaneously into the feelings of God himself-that our thought, and our feeling, and our will, and all our affections may be swallowed up in thine.

O, bring near to us the other life. Dear Lord, there are many souls that are very sick, and that would be healed if they might but once look into thy heart. There are many who are filled with pain: reach down one leaf from the tree of life that they may find their usual strength. There are many who cannot see thee because the images of their dear children are in their way: through their beloved let them see thee come forth to them, bearing their infants in their arms and blessing them again. There are those who stand in solitariness, and hardly know their own soul in its fitful griefs and wild mazes of suffering: thou Comforter, who hast dealt with sorrow from the beginning, canst thou not deal with their sorrows and bereavements?

Behold those, we beseech of thee, who seem toiling in vain; who are borne down by burdens which are heavier than they can bear; whose hearts are filled with innumerable cares and troubles. O, thou blessed One, thou that canst bring forth from the mute earth and dead matter things which are rare and beautiful, canst thou not, from the spent and parched soil of souls, bring forth all sweet and pleasant experiences? May the wilderness bud and blossom as the rose in many a dry heart!

Lord Jesus, we beseech of thee that thou will revive thy work here again. Show forth, we pray thee, thy power, as in days gone by, and fill this house with rejoicing, not for ourselves, but for the excellency and the glory of thine own name.

Now, we pray thee that thou wilt teach us, more and more, lessons of trust, lessons of peace, and lessons of contentment, in the way of the Lord God toward us, and lead us in thine own way, so that we may not stumble nor be beyond the reach of thine hand, or the hear

ing of thine ear, or the throbs of thine heart. We pray that thus we may walk, fulfilling the errands of God in this life, till the hour of our departing shall come. Then, O thou that hast known the way of death, and through it the way of triumph, become our God; and when we walk the valley of the shadow of death may we fear no evil. May thy love inspire, and sustain, and comfort us.

Nor would we stand praying alone for ourselves. Look upon thy people of every name; upon all thy churches; upon thy ministering servants everywhere; and grant that this may be a day in which the hearts of all thy people shall be filled with a sense of God presentImmanuel.

O Lord God, wilt thou revive thy cause everywhere. Bless those who, in far-off and destitute places, toil in weakness, and sickness, and with hope deferred. Help them that their faith may not fail. Be with those exiled ones who are in the midst of the poor and the ignorant, and without companionship, and under the scorn and even the rejection of man, seeking still to imprint the image of Christ upon the souls of such as are lying in darkness. Lord, breathe their reward upon their souls in that peace, in that faith, which never shall fail.

Draw near to all those, we pray thee, everywhere, who are seeking to build the ways of men upon a purer morality, and to inspire a nobler manhood. Grant thy blessing to all those who are extending the bounds of human knowledge, and are endeavoring to build up the foundations of human life more and more compactly. And we pray that thou, who art the Guide of mankind and hast been from the beginning, and that art marching from triumph to triumph unto eternity, wilt let thy providence, which has inspired and guided thy people in all times, bring forth in this nation and in every nation the peaceable fruits of righteousness. From the brightness of thy coming may all darkness flee. And with darkness may ignorance go, and superstition, and cruelty, and every evil thing. May all the earth see thy salvation.

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

PRAYER AFTER THE SERMON.

OUR Father, we beseech of thee that thou wilt bless us in the truth, and bring to us a sense of our own deficiencies of knowledgenot knowledge of ideas, nor of things, but above all, knowledge of self-sacrifice and of humiliation for others' sake. Make us feel how base we are in our selfishness. We call ourselves Christians; and yet how far we are from perfection! How many faults we have! O Lord, we beseech of thee that we may be more and more mellow, and brought into that love, like Christ's, which was willing to lay down its life a ransom, by its sufferings, for those who were not only sinful, but arrogant and inimical. We pray that thou wilt fill this church, and fill all the churches of the city, and all the churches of our land,

with this divine impulse. Oh, how weak we are! Pitying, waiting God, how wonderful is thy long-suffering! Yet, give not up the work of thy hand. Thou that art the Author, be the Finisher, of the faith of thy people. And finally, when we have gone through our own discipline, and our own limited life, and are called, and we fly upward with joy, imperfect as we are, ransomed by the love of God in Christ Jesus, may we find ourselves joined to those who have gone before to the General Assembly and the church of the first born; yea, may we find ourselves joined to thee, O Jesus. And we will give the praise of our salvation to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

FORETOKENS OF RESURRECTION.

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”— Col. iii. 1-4.

Taken by itself, the Christian teaching on the subject of the resurrection of Christ has, from the earliest days, been laid open to many objections. Much philosophical opposition has been arrayed against it, and much exceedingly ingenious apology has been written for it. It is not fair to take any one of the elements-the capital elements of the history of Jesus, and discuss it as if it stood alone. They are organic elements; they belong to a composite whole; and we cannot get the best and the truest light except we judge, not simply of the probable value of single individual features, but of the combined whole.

If one should see a brow upon a transparency or a canvas, it might be subject to criticism which if it were joined to the whole face would not be justified. We should think it unfair if a human face were dissected, and we were called to form a judgment in respect to the mouth, the nose, the pair of eyes or the brows. We should say under such circumstances, "Put them together; for that which they are is not simply what each is by itself, but what they are by their symmetry and proportions with each other."

Now, the history of our Saviour must be judged as a

(EASTER) SUNDAY MORNING, April 5, 1874. LESSON: Col. iii. 1-17. HYMNS (Plymouth Collection): Nos. 40, 364, 551.