souls! Oh! no, there is in every man a substratum of goodness which creates in him a consciousness of the evil that is in him, and makes him long for that unmixed goodness, for that absolute perfection which he had when he came fresh from his Maker's hand. There is still, in the very constitution of our natures, a longing for holiness implanted by God. Have we not felt this rise up within us sometimes with irresistible force? It It may be on bended knees, after a powerful appeal from an eloquent preacher, or when some great calamity or the death of a loved one has crushed the worldliness out of us for a time, and our spirits soar up in holy aspiration to our heavenly Father. God has many ways of speaking to us. External nature is an open book to all who can read her secrets. Every tender flower that drinks in the air and sunshine, with all its microscopical perfections, with its delicate colouring and fine pencilling, is a message from God. There is not a leaf that whispers to the passing breeze, or a blade of grass trodden under the unheeding foot, that does not speak to us of His wisdom. And does not His goodness shine out equally everywhere? He hears the raven's cry and marks the sparrow's fall. He satisfieth the mouth of every living thing. Is not all this a veritable voice from heaven to us? Do we not ourselves long after a clearer light and a nobler existence, when the infinite wisdom and goodness of God are thus revealed to us on every hand? God is continually inspiring us with longings for righteousness by the manifestations of His own divine goodness in external nature. Then there is what we call the Providence of God, which is only another way of expressing His presence in our lives. Who has not

felt the hand of God upon him at some time or other in his life? God's hand is upon us every moment, sustaining us and guiding all our affairs, but it is only now and again, at the crises of our existence, as we denominate them, that we feel its presence and power. It may be in the removal of a burden, or it may be in laying an extra one on our shoulders, in some deep sorrow, or in some great new joy, in these and other ways we recognise sometimes the chastening, loving hand of our heavenly Father. And the mere consciousness of God's nearness gives our spiritual life a new impulse, and we feel induced to cry out from the depths of our souls, for that eternal peace which the temptations and troubles of this life have no power to shake, and which we can alone obtain by a more faithful walk with God, and a more whole-hearted devotion to his service. It is in bereavement, however, I think that God's note, "Excelsior," rings out most clearly. There is no household without its vacant chair. What hallowed, sanctifying memories gather round it! It may be a mother's, or a father's, or a wife's, or a son's. There are some homes where nearly all the chairs are vacant. One by one, like autumn leaves, they have dropped off, and those that are gone are more than those that are left. What a great hush is over the house where death has entered! But the hush is only external. The heart is overflowing with tender thoughts of the loved one, and, in spite of tears that must have way, many a holy aspiration soars upwards as we try to picture to ourselves the new home in which the spirit that has just left us, now dwells. I am sure that God's angels are about us at such times, and in the awful stillness we almost fancy that we can hear the beating of their

wings as they whisper to us of the loved one, and of Christ, and of heaven, and of eternity, and immortality. The trial passes, like all trials, aud the ever-changing demands of life make us partly forget our sorrow, but as the years roll on those who have gone before us to the other world become continually fairer and nearer and dearer to us. Our spirits often hold communion with them, and in times of temptation and danger we frequently feel that they are by our side like guardian angels to protect us. Oh! what a power in our lives are these loved ones gone before! Through them God speaks to us, and invites us upwards to where He dwells. We long to be with them, and with that longing there comes another, the longing after that holiness in which they now live, and without which no man shall see God. God speaks to us, and inspires us with longings for holiness by the mouth of the dead.

(2) To proceed to my second point. "I admit," I fancy I hear some sceptic say, "that our present condition, the way in which men usually live, is not altogether satisfactory. I quite share your feeling about a something above, and beyond which I cannot help looking forward to, and I have never talked to any one seriously about himself, about his life, or his soul, who does not feel dissatisfied, who does not long with all his heart and might for something which he calls heaven, where the sinfulness that now torments him, and the sorrows that now crush him, shall be lost in an atmosphere of perfect holiness and cloudless bliss. I admit that God has implanted this longing in every one of us. But I believe He has filled us with hopes that He can never satisfy. This future world that you talk about is all a dream. This world, it is true, is out of joint in many

places. There are square men in round holes, and round men in square holes. One man has too much wealth to use, another has not enough rags to warm his body, or food to put into the mouths of his hungry children. Sunshine and shadow, gladness and grief, are distributed hap-hazard to men. It is a curious, blind,

confused medley of a world. But we must make the best of it. It is no use our cherishing vain hopes. Our noble aspirations will never be realised. Higher life, perfect holiness, unalloyed happiness are fine names for things that do not and never will exist."

"Blessed

Stop, my friend. I think I can show you that you are mistaken. Let me read my text again. are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness (for they shall be disappointed? No), for they shall be filled." You believe one part of the verse, why not believe the other? You acknowledge that the truth taught in God's word, that He has filled men with desires for a higher life, is a truth corroborated by your own experience, and by the experience of all with whom you have come in contact. You have proved God's word to be true in one case, why not believe it in the other? I like an honest doubter. He is often one who is seeking hard after truth, but in the wrong way. Let us fold such an one, my friends, in the warm embraces of our Christian charity, and teach him by our love to him the love there is in Christ Jesus, once his heart is right, his head will speedily follow. Christ only reveals Himself to His disciples. If we have doubts, the way we must come to Him is, "Lord I believe, help Thou mine. unbelief." Faith first; help, light, enlightenment

afterwards.

The Bible gives no uncertain promise of reward to

those who earnestly strive for the love and liberty and purity stored up in Jesus Christ.

So

The Old Testament is full of gracious words for yearning souls, "As the hart panteth after the waterbrook, so panteth my soul for thee, O God." says David. Hear the answer, "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." When I awake! Ah, we must all go to sleep, David, first. But, when we awake! God grant us David's awakening.

We must quote Isaiah, too. In the 64th ch., and 4th verse, he says, "For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him." And in the 13th and 14th verses of the next chapter, he says, "Therefore, saith the Lord God, Behold my servants shall drink, behold my servants shall rejoice, behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart." Such were the glorious anticipations of the men who lived in the twilight of ante-Christian times. How much more clearly do Christ Himself, and the writers of the New Testament speak of these hopes for which the incarnate Son of God was both the pledge and the fulfilment in one and the same person.

He says to the Samaritan woman, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." And John echoes his Master's word when he writes, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." There is also that glorious passage in John vi. 35, where Christ tells "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me

us,