from death. Human nature shudders at it the world over. But the pain of losing the great hope is in some respects greater than this. Which is the greater pain to a loving mother, her own death, or the death of all hope concerning the recovery of her only son, the object of her love, and the stay of her heart? David's great parental hope departs; and listen to his heartbreaking lament, "O my son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom!" &c. Which is the greatest agony to the sinner, the mere death of his body, the departure of his soul from his body, or the departure from his soul of all the hope that made his life pleasant, and even tolerable to him? Oh, the agony of the hour when the resistless hand of destiny hurls the sun of hope from the firmament of the soul, and leaves it in black despair. The loss of the dominant hope is like death II. IN RESPECT TO RUINOUSNESS. As the exit of the soul from the body ruins the body, the exit of hope from the soul ruins the soul. First: In death the body loses all its enjoyments. The eyes are closed to beauty, the ears to music-all sensibility is gone. When hope leaves the soul, all its joys are gone. "The setting of a great hope," says Longfellow, "is like the setting of the sun. The brightness of our life is gone, shadows of the evening fall around us, and the world seems but a dim reflection itself a broader shadow." But when all hope is gone"hope, the beauteous sun which colcurs all it shines upon"-what is there, then, in the soul but a shivering, howling, desolate midnight! Secondly: In death the body loses all its beauty. The most lovely frame soon becomes hideous after the departure of the spirit. "Give me a place that I may bury my dead out of my sight.' But what a gloomy, ghastly, hideous wretch a spirit must be without hope. A soul without hope is a soul without love, and a soul without love is a soul destitute of every virtue, the cage of all the noxious reptiles of vice. Thirdly: I death the body loses all its usefulness. When the soul departs, the body can render no more service; the tongue of the orator, the pen of the author, the brush of the painter, the chisel of the sculptor, the tool of the workman, all silent and still for eyer and for ever. When hope takes her exit from the soul, all the power of usefulness is gone. A mind under despair can render no service to the creation. CONCLUSION: The grand concern of all men should be to get an enduring hope, a hope that shall last as long as the soul lasts. God knows that the most confiding and sanguine of us are losing some hopes every day. There are hopes that are like meteors in the sky of our being, they light us for the moment and are gone. Oh! for a great, grand, great, grand, present hope. Where is it to be got? Nowhere but in Christianity. The hope of the Gospel is a "good hope;" good in its object, "an inheritance incorruptible," &c. ; good in its foundation; the promise of a God who cannot lie; good in its duration. "God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel," &c. "I have read our holy books," said a poor Hindoo. "I have long respected and invoked the name of my guardian deity. I have visited holy places. I have bathed in the Ganges. I have performed many rites. I have submitted to many sufferings; but I find no peace, no hope. Where, O where, am I going when I die? Into what new body is my soul to pass? Or into what dreadful gulf am I to be plunged? Die I must, but in death I can have no hope." CHRISTIAN CONSCIOUSNESS AS A WITNESS. "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself."-1 John v. 10. is WE acquire knowledge by different witnesses. There is (1) the witness of the senses. Our physical senses assure us of certain facts external to ourselves. There is (2) the witness of testimony. All history is but a collection of human testimony regarding past events. Thus, too, we reach a knowledge of all scenes and cir cumstances that have not come within the range of our own observation. There is (3) the witness of logic. There is a class of truths, a species of knowledge which we reach by conclusions drawn from known facts. Thus mathematical, metaphysical, and ethical knowledge is chiefly, if not entirely, attained. There is (4) the witness of consciousness. Consciousness assures us of the reality of all our mental impulses and states. This consciousness is for many reasons the best witness, indeed, without this witness we should have no knowledge of anything like certitude. The text brings under our notice the witness of Christian consciousness. I offer three remarks concerning this witness. I. IT IS THE MOST IM PORTANT OF ALL WITNESSES. Why is it the most important? Because it bears witness to the most momentous realities. I shall notice two great points which it attests to the soul's conviction. First: The truth of the Gospel. Fully acknowledging the value of other evidences in favour of Christianity, such as that of history, prophecy, miracle, and success, none are to be compared in value to that of consciousness. The existence, unity, holiness, and fatherhood of God; the depravity and guilt of humanity; the existence of a future state of retribution; the divinity of the person and work of Christ, such points as these, which constitute the very essence of the Gospel, are so congruous with the reason, instincts, needs, and aspirations of the soul, that consciousness sets its seal to them as divine. The Gospel "commends itself to every man's conscience." This is the witness that gives to the majority of believers in Christianity their faith. Secondly: The soul's interest in the Gospel. The man who believes, knows that he is the "child of God, and an heir of the kingdom of heaven." No other witness but that of consciousness can testify to these glorious realities. The Christian knows, not thinks, not hopes, but knows in whom he has believed. II. IT IS THE MOST INCON. TROVERTIBLE OF ALL WIT NESSES. The evidence of the senses, which often deceive; of human testimony, which is fallible; of logic, which often errs, is all controvertible. Doubts may be raised at all the statements of these witnesses. But what consciousness attests is at once placed beyond argument, beyond debate, beyond doubt. It never lies, it never mistakes. Why do men believe in the existence of an external world?-in the being of a God?-in the freedom and responsibility of the soul!-ina coming retribution; logic has denied all these over and over again; it is because universal consciousness attests them. Systems, which consciousness cannot attest, have constantly appeared in the world, and ften, too, with all the pomp and pageantry of philosophy and reasoning, but they pass as gorgeous clouds from the sky of thought. What con sciousness attests, lives, despite the antagonism of all philosophy and logic. The verities attested by consciousness burn as imperishable stars in the mental hemisphere of the mind. Because consciousness attests the truth of Christianity, Christianity lives, and thrives, and spreads, notwithstanding the opposition of scepticism, and the inconsistencies of churches. The true Christian may be confounded by sceptical reasoning, but he cannot be deprived of his faith. "One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see." III. IT IS THE MOST AVAILABLE OF ALL WITNESSES. In some cases, logic, through the natural feebleness of the understanding, and, in other cases, through the lack of data, without which, however naturally strong, it cannot speak, is not always available, even with its feeble testimony. But the witness of consciousness is always in the court, and always prepared to give its decisive testimony. Subjective Christianity consists in hopes and fears, and loves and hates, in volitions, thoughts, aspirations; and these are all matters of consciousness. The availableness of the witness, it must be remembered, depends upon the possession of personal Christianity. If we have it not, consciousness cannot attest it. Brothers, have we this witness? If we have, we may well rejoice, for we are the children of God, delivered from the bondage and condemnation of sin, and brought into the enjoyment of the glorious liberty of the Gospel. When Franklin went out | into the thunderstorm to fly the kite, which was to test his theory of electricity, he was agitated by indescribable hopes and fears. But when the critical moment arrived and passed, when (quivering with trepidation) he applied his knuckle to the key, and the lightning flashed forth, then all doubt was at an end. Then he felt the truth of what before he had but believed. And the flashing of the light which reveals the truth of "God's word written" in the heart of a believing Christian, is as much more certain as it is more abiding. It is no transient phenomenon. It is a Paraclete that comes to abide with him for ever. It makes him a witness to whom God Himself appeals.* And the appeal is not in vain. It is answered from the depths of desolation and misery in the cry of the hoary patriarch, "I KNOW that my Redeemer liveth!" "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father!" "The spirit itself" the Christian state of mind-"beareth witness with our spirit"--by con * Isa. xliii. 10—12; xlix. 8. sciousness" that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." HUMAN HOLINESS THE GREAT OBJECT OF THE DIVINE WILL. "This is the will of God, even your sanctification."-1 Thess. iv. 3. 66 First: God has a WILL." Will implies reason; God is infinite reason. Will implies force; it is determination. God is infinite force. Will, free, uncontrolled will, is the expression of the willer's nature. God's nature is holy, benevolent, unchangeable. Secondly God has a WILL concerning man. Insignifi cant though man be, as compared with the universe, and less than nothing as compared with his Maker, he, nevertheless, engages the mind and heart of God. Glorious truth this! Thirdly: God's WILL concerning man is his holi ness. "Your sanctification." This means holiness, and holiness is moral excellencemoral assimilation to Himself. If this be the WILL of God concerning man, two conclusions deserve special notice. I. THAT MAN'S GRAND DUTY CHIMES IN WITH HIS MORAL INTUITIONS AND HIGHEST INTEREST. What is the grand duty of man? Obedience to the divine will-philosophy can return no other answer. First: Our moral intuitions urge us to holiness. There is an ideal character which our intuitions are constantly intruding on our notice, urging us to cultivate. Moral souls everywhere on earth feel that they should be true, honest, generous, pure, and devout, in other words that they should be holy. be holy. Secondly: Our highest interest urges us to holiness. The history of the world shows that men have been prosperous and happy in proportion to their virtues. And human consciousness attests that men are only inwardly happy as they feel that they have lived and done the thing which is right and true. So, then, the grand demand of the Bible instead of being in the slightest incongruous with human nature or its interests, blends in with the strictest accordance. If this be the WILL of GOD concerning man, I con clude II. THAT MAN HAS AN INFALLIBLE GUIDE TO DETER MINE THE SUCCESSFUL IN PRAYER AND EFFORT. He who goes with God's will, goes with Omnipotence, and if he goes rightly mast succeed. First: Successful holiprayers are prayers for ness. He who prays for |